


Light It Up (On The Run)

by theboyfriendstagram



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enjoy!, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Heist, Hostage Situations, M/M, Punk Louis, Smut, does louis get fucked on a bed full of money?? i haven't written it yet but UM YES, i haven't decided who tops and who bottoms yet but i'll change the tag once i do, inspired by 'la casa de papel', plot varies but that's where i got the idea, there are guns in the fic but the violence isn't graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-06-29 21:03:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15737295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theboyfriendstagram/pseuds/theboyfriendstagram
Summary: “You’re quite relaxed for someone who has a gun pointed at them.”“You won’t shoot me.” Harry dares, hoping Hydrogen (or whatever his name is) can’t tell he’s shitting himself right now.“Wanna bet?” the guy dares, a smirk spreading over his lips.Okay, why did Harry think that talking back to a guy with tattoos all over his body and a gun in his hand would be a good idea?---‘Money Heist’/'La casa de papel' inspired AU. Louis Tomlinson is one of the most wanted criminals in the UK and Harry Styles is a law student who always did what his father told him to do, which includes interviewing for a job at the Bank of England. What Harry doesn’t know, is that his fear of standing up to his father will make him a hostage during the most notorious ten-day money heist in the history of the United Kingdom.orA heist!AU where Harry just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time because seven people are trying to pull off the biggest heist ever seen by mankind.Trailer





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Light It Up (On The Run) | tłumaczenie PL](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15787665) by [edgeofmyinnocence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgeofmyinnocence/pseuds/edgeofmyinnocence)
  * Translation into Русский available: [Light It Up (On The Run)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16334861) by [malishka1011](https://archiveofourown.org/users/malishka1011/pseuds/malishka1011)



> Sooo this is is my 10th Larry story and I'm a bit nervous to post it because it's a bit unlike everything I've written so far. I'm not sure the first chapter is that interesting, but I've got so many ideas for this story and I think it has so much potential I'd love to continue it if it sparks interest.
> 
> You guys voted on my poll for me to focus on this story, so I did :)
> 
> It's inspired by the Netflix series "La casa de papel" aka "Money Heist", obviously a bit different than the actual story, but the idea is based off of it. If you haven't watched it, I strongly recommend it because it's one of the best Tv Shows I've ever watched.
> 
> P.s. There is gun use and not too graphic descriptions of violence in the story, so please do not read if it's triggering. I do NOT condone gun violence and if it were after me, I'd end people's ability to purchase guns. Everything is fiction.
> 
> Let me know what you think of it :)
> 
>  
> 
>   
> 

**Chapter warnings: guns, graphic descriptions of a crime scene, a bit of violence**

Louis Tomlinson got his first tattoo when he was fifteen. It was a small bird on his ribcage, symbolizing his need of freedom and his longing for greater things. When his father saw it, two hours later when Louis was changing into his pajamas, he screamed for five days straight and grounded Louis for a month.

His second tattoo came six months later: a compass to represent the fact that he will go wherever life takes him. His father flipped out again and slapped him across the face as he yelled.

When he got his third tattoo, eight months after the first one, two days before his sixteenth birthday, his father beat him senselessly. It wasn’t because his father had always been the typical communist type, but because Louis was the only one out of their five kids who didn’t do as he was told.

After the beating, he ran away from home and actually managed to stay away for two days, until he got way too hungry and tired of sleeping under bridges.

He remembers the day he went back home even now, as if it happened yesterday, not five years ago.

He remembers ringing the doorbell and waiting five minutes for someone to answer. He remembers trying the front door, only to realize that it was open all along. He also remembers finding his entire family on the living room floor in a pool of blood. They’ve been stabbed to death; all six of them, their bodies aligned neatly next to each other, right next to the couch.

The first thing he did was throw up all over his sneakers. The second thing was crying and yelling and screaming, all at the same time.

His oldest sister let out a cry and Louis fell down to his knees, getting blood all over his pants, as he shook her shoulder. He took the large knife that lied next to her head and looked at it, still not comprehending what had happened.

“Lottie. Fuck, Lottie, what happened? Who did this?” he pleaded and froze when he heard police sirens blaring, getting closer.

“Run.” Lottie managed to choke out.

Louis did just that. He ran out of the house through the backdoor, and didn’t stop until he reached the woods, heavily panting and crying.

And he’s been running ever since.

He’s seen what people have been saying about him: that he’s crazy, that he used drugs and killed his whole family because he was high, that he would get tried as an adult if he ever got caught by the police, because his fingerprints were all over the murder weapon.

He’s been running since he was fucking sixteen year old, only getting by because he was stealing food, crashing in empty, abandoned houses and shoplifting with every chance he got. He befriended a tattoo artist on the outskirts of Cardiff, hours away from his hometown in Doncaster, and slept over at his place for a few years, hiding.

Now, five years later, he’s on the run again, because he almost got caught robbing a supermarket at gunpoint a month ago. Of course something had to go wrong, because he lost his wallet in the process, which contained his old ID. The press had a field day, running headlines like _‘Child murderer Louis Tomlinson resurfaces in Cardiff’_ and _‘Louis Tomlinson, the child murderer, holds cashier at gunpoint’_ or _“15-year-old murderer who killed his own family is spotted in Cardiff after a robbery gone wrong”_.

They don’t have his picture, only the one when he was fifteen years old, which they used on all the ‘WANTED’ posters and in the news back then. Now, the same picture is being broadcasted, along with a picture made on the computer, with the words ‘this is how he might look now’ under it.

Louis always laughs when he sees the picture on the TV or in someone’s newspaper, because although it’s kind of accurate, the neck tattoos aren’t shown, although ‘heavily tattooed’ is one of the ‘features’ people should be looking for (or so the media says).

He is heavily tattooed, because he’s always thought of tattoos as a way to embody a memory or a moment. And a lot has happened in the past five years; the bird and the compass were just the beginning. Now, a hundred and twenty tattoos later, he’s almost run out of skin. And patience.

***

Harry Styles got his first tattoo when he was eighteen, right after he got into law school. A small, open birdcage on his ribs, because he’s always dreamt of being able to make his own decisions, without his father ordering him around. He got into law school because his father told him to do so, and threatened to disown him and throw him on the streets if he applied for anything else.

Harry’s always wanted to be a journalist. Or a chemist. Or a criminal investigator. At one point, he wanted to be everything in the world, because he thought it was possible. But years passed and his father continued to push his dreams into an imaginary cage, making them smaller and smaller until he couldn’t find them anymore. Hence, the open birdcage. All he needs is a bird.

When he got into law school and moved into a dorm, he got a ship tattooed, because he thought he’d finally sail away from his father and be who he wanted to be. At least, he thought he’d be who he wanted to be in law school.

Over the years, he realized that there isn’t a subject in the world that doesn’t interest him: he likes crime documentaries and the laws of physics and the way chemical elements mix with each other and everything else. The only thing he doesn’t like is studying law.

One day, he thinks, he’s going to stand up to his father, he’s going to say everything that’s on his mind without being afraid of the repercussions. But until that day comes, he’ll have to keep his childhood fears at bay and go on with his life that doesn’t feel like it’s his anymore.

***

**November 24th**

It’s the 24th of November, which means that London is pretty fucking cold; way too cold for Louis to be wearing a pair of joggers and a T-shirt. He spots a small shop nearby and adjusts the cap on his head before he enters.

The problem with being a wanted fugitive is that he’s always paranoid. He’s gotten used to it, but still. Ten minutes later, he comes out of the store with a pair of gloves and a scarf tucked under his T-shirt.

He hits Victoria Station next, looking out for men in expensive suits that could potentially fund his sleep this week.

 _Bingo_ , he thinks when he sees a group of three men with their suitcases standing next to a coffee cart, idly chatting as they blow into their hot coffees. He pretends that he has no idea where he’s going and accidentally bumps into them, spilling a coffee on one of their suits.

“Shit, I am so sorry Sir.” He apologizes and grabs a napkin from the cart. “Thank you.” He adds when one of the gentlemen hands him another napkin to clean his friend.

“I am so sorry.” He apologizes again and throws the used napkins in the bin.

“It’s alright.” The man says and shakes his head.

“I am truly sorry.” Louis says and pats him on the shoulder, before he’s off.

He hides behind the next corner and pulls out three wallets from his large pockets.

“Fuck yeah.” He breathes after he’s counted all the money. Four hundred pounds. It’s rare to see so much money after a bit of pickpocketing, but then again, winter is coming, and he’s not going to feel bad.

He looks around the corner to see the three men patting themselves down and looking around alarmed. Then they go up to talk to a guard, which is Louis’ cue to leave.

On his way towards the exit, he drops the empty wallets off at the Information desk, only mumbling a quick ‘found these on the floor’. He always makes sure to give the wallets he steals to someone who will return the IDs, drivers’ licenses etc.

He’s a thief, but he’s a nice one, yeah?

Louis knows there’s a hostel a few metro stations away, so he asks for change at the nearest shop and buys himself a one-way ticket for the Underground.

Five minutes later he’s in a subway, on his way to the nearest hostel.

“Awful, what happened to those people.” A lady across from him says, looking in the paper. There, on the front page, it reads: _Only survivor of the Doncaster massacre needs help for follow up operations_

He sees Lottie’s face in black and white, and his knees go weak. He hasn’t spoken to her in years, actually since that day, five years ago.

Louis finds a telephone booth as soon as he gets out of the subway and dials Lottie’s old number from memory. It rings three times and he thinks it’s changed, but then she answers.

“Hello?”

“Lottie.” He breathes.

“Louis?” she asks. Surprise and elation are clear in her voice. “Oh my God, Louis!”

“Shhh, shh. Someone might hear you.”

“How are you? How have you been? Oh my God-“

“Lottie. Are you okay? I’m sorry I haven’t called I just…I was scared the police might track your phone.”

There’s silence on the other line, which is unusual.

“Lottie? What’s wrong? Are you there?”

“Yeah.” She says, hesitating, and Louis _knows._ He knows that the police are tracking the phone and that the headlines were just a way of getting him to bite the bait and fall into their trap.

“Listen, Lottie. Are you okay? I read about some operations-“

“Yeah…yeah. I…the knife dug too deep into my organs and now there are complications-“

“How much does it cost?”

Louis can hear her hesitating. “A hundred thousand.”

“Fucking hell.”

“Yeah. Louis, listen. They offered to pay if…if you would just turn yourself in. I’ve heard people-“

“They’re there, aren’t they?” Louis dryly asks.

He can’t blame her though, because from what he’s read on the news, five years ago, after they found her alive, Lottie had extreme PTSD and couldn’t remember anything because her brain blocked everything out. Or at least, that’s what the doctors said, and the police understood that they couldn’t trust what she told them.

“Louis, please. I want you to be safe.”

Louis’ heart is breaking because he hates the situation he’s in. But he can’t. Turning himself in means admitting to something he hasn’t done.

“I can’t. You know I can’t. I need to find out what happened to them. Until then, I can’t.”

“Louis-“

“I’m sorry.” Is all he says before he hangs up, and then leans his forehead against the glass, taking a deep breath.

Fuck his life, honestly.

He looks at the gold watch on his wrist (something he swiped from a guy two days ago). It’s nearly five, which means that it’s going to get dark and cold pretty soon. But hey, he’s got four hundred pounds now.

He can spare twenty for a couple of beers.

***

Harry groans and closes one of his many Law books with a thud.

“I am fucking DONE.” He says, almost screaming, which catches Niall, who just came through the door, off guard.

 _19-year-old boy explodes from too much stress_ , he thinks. That’s what the papers would say if he could actually physically explode right now.

“Are you okay?” Niall laughs and drops down next to him on the couch.

“No. I hate Law.”

Niall nods. He’s been hearing about Harry’s hate for Law ever since they moved in together a year ago.

“How was your day?” Harry asks, trying to change the subject.

“Good. Cowell asked about you.”

Harry makes a face. Simon Cowell is the man in charge at the Bank of England, and Harry’s supposed to be having an interview with him a month from now. ‘Supposed’ is the right word, because he _has_ to, but doesn’t want to. His father called him a week ago, telling him that they’re looking for an intern who studies law and that he pulled some strings to get him on the list. Everyone knows that it’s one of the highest paying internships in London, if not the whole country. But Harry doesn’t want to fucking go to the interview.

“And what did you say?”

“What could I say? I said you’re okay, that you’re looking forward to it. You know, the usual lying protocol and whatnot.” Niall laughs and Harry smiles.

He met Niall a year ago during fresher’s week at King’s College, and they moved in together a month later because they both lived in awful dorms with awful people. To some extent they’re the same, because neither of them know what they want to do with their lives. Niall studies Economics and managed to get an internship at the Bank of England a few months back, but he only studies Economics because it’s the basic thing to study if you have no idea what you want to do.

The only difference is that Niall chose himself, whereas Harry was made to choose Law.

“Hey, think about it. We’re going to be work buddies as well.” Niall says, trying to lift his mood.

“Yeah, because seeing you at home all the time isn’t enough.”

“I saw a cute girl today by the way.” Niall says.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Hazel eyes, brown hair. My type you know.”

Harry rolls his eyes. “Everybody’s your type.”

“Yeah, but she was beautiful man. And her friend was beautiful too. Kind of looked liked models to be honest.”

“Did you get her name?”

Niall shakes his head. “She wanted to change some money and asked me on which days I have work. I told her I’m an intern. I think she was a bit crazy though, because she kept looking up every five seconds, like there was a fly going past her head or something.”

Harry is zoning out now. He never really listens to Niall talking on about girls he’s too afraid to talk to.

“So anyway, I talked to some friends of mine from Uni and he told me about this pub crawl they’re doing tonight.”

“And?” Harry asks, even though he knows where this is going.

“And we’re going with them. You need to get out of the house.”

When Harry finally caves, Niall smiles, delighted, and then walks to his room to change into some going out clothes.

They leave for the pub around half past nine. It’s a bit crowded and it smells like booze the moment they walk in, trying to get past the people smoking outside.

Niall’s mates are waiting for them at a table and Harry offers to go get their drinks for them, because he isn’t in the mood to make small talk right now.

After he orders five beers, he sits down on one of the seats and goes through his Instagram feed as he waits.

When the bartender places the five glasses filled to the brim in front of him, Harry has no choice but to take two at the time over to the table so they won’t spill over.

He grabs the last one and is about to turn around and join the others, when someone crashes into him. His beer spills over his shirt.

“Shit, fuck. Sorry.” The guy who crashed into him says and looks up at Harry.

The first thing Harry notices are his piercing blue eyes, then the soft fringe coming out from under his hood. He’s not sure, but he swears the guy also has a tattoo on his neck. It’s all very well hidden under his hoodie.

“Uh…it’s fine.” Harry says and looks away from the guy so he can look down at himself.

“I can pay for…uh, your beer?”

Harry shrugs. “Really, it’s fine.”

The guy turns to the bartender anyway and lifts one finger up. Harry watches his profile and he swears he’s seen the guy somewhere before.

“What’s your name?” Harry asks.

“Uh…Louis.” He says and looks at something behind Harry’s shoulder. “Yours?”

Before Harry can open his mouth to answer, Louis places a five pound bill on the bar and leaves. Harry looks over his shoulder, just to see Louis talking to an older woman wearing a white lab coat, who definitely looks younger than she actually is.

Finally, he grabs his beer and returns to the table. When he looks around to find Louis again, he’s not there anymore, and neither is the woman he talked to.

***

**November 25th**

She’s there. Louis can fucking see her, even though she thinks he can’t. The woman in the white fucking lab coat, who’s been following him for the last three days. When he approached her in the pub yesterday, all she did was ask him whether he’s _the_ Louis Tomlinson, which made Louis panic and leave.

Now she’s here again, sitting in a car by the side of the road, a few hundred feet from where Louis is sitting on the bench, smoking.

 _Fuck this_ , he thinks and stands up from the bench.

“What the fuck do you want from me? Are you with the police or something?” he asks in a raised voice and leans down when she rolls down her window.

There it is. There’s no turning back now. He either runs now or he’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison.

“No. I have a question for you.” She says.

When Louis doesn’t say anything, she continues.

“How does a life where you don’t have to run and look over your shoulder every day sound?” she asks.

“Pretty fuckin’ good.” Louis answers. “So?”

“What if I told you that I could make that happen?”

“Are you a genie or something?”

“No. But I can help you. If you get in the car.”

“Why would I get in the car with someone I don’t even know?” Louis asks, crossing his arms. He spots two policemen at the end of the street, staring at him like they know him.

“You’ve got nothing to lose.” The woman says and Louis finally gives in.

Once they’re in the car and she starts driving, he asks her to explain why she’d help him without getting anything out of it.

“If everything goes as planned, I’ll get three hundred million pounds out of it. And so will you.”

“What? Are you planning on robbing a bank?” Louis jokes but turns serious when he sees the expression on her face.

“No, I will not rob a bank. But you will. Alongside six other people.”

“And why would I do that? Why would six other people do that?”

She stops at a red light and looks at him.

“Because they’ve got nothing to lose either.”

Louis stays quiet for the rest of the trip and falls asleep at one point, only to wake up when the car screeches to a halt.

“Where are we?” he asks when he sees a giant, ancient house in the middle of nowhere.

“The outskirts of London. Everyone else is inside already.”

“So did six people actually agree on doing this?”

The woman nods, and Louis realizes he doesn’t even know her name.

“Who are you?”

She smiles as she pushes the door open.

“Just call me The Chemist.”

**December 20th**

_Boy, unable to stand up to his father, ends up living a life he hates,_ Harry thinks as he enters Simon Cowell’s office on December 20. If his interview goes well (which, to be honest, doesn’t even matter), he’ll start his new job at the Bank of England at the beginning of next year.

He’s in no mood to do any interview, but right now he’s staring at Mr. Cowell who’s staring right back at him with an expectant look on his face. He hates this look, because it means that his father talked great things about him and he always hates to disappoint.

“Good morning.” Mr. Cowell says and Harry greets him back before shaking his hand and sitting down on the seat in front of him.

Simon starts asking him questions that they both know he knows the answers to, but they do this whole question and answers game just for the sake of it.

The phone rings but Simon ignores it. It rings two more times and Simon finally answers with a sigh.

“Yes?”

Harry watches his expression change from confusion to fear.

“In my office.” Simon answers and motions for Harry to stand up. “Okay.”

He hangs up and looks at Harry, who’s as confused as anyone could be.

“Something happen?” Harry asks and Simon nods. Then he points to something behind Harry.

When Harry turns around, his whole body goes numb. His blood runs cold and he feels a rush of adrenaline rush from his head to the tip of his toes, because he’s staring into the end of an AK-47, held by someone with an Anonymous mask on.

***

**December 20th**

So as it turns out, ‘the Chemist’ had a pretty elaborate plan on how to rob the Bank of England, which was supposed to be one of the only buildings in the world where one couldn’t get in. Apparently she spent the last two years looking for the right people to help her and the right tools to do so. In the end, she put together a team of seven people (including Louis), to pull of the most notorious money heist in the history of the UK, if not the world.

I mean, they were talking about a billion fucking pounds, and Louis isn’t sure what the penalty for such an amount of money is, but add hostages and guns to the mix and it won’t be a slap on the wrist from the police.

A month ago he was running away from the police and pickpocketing so he could live another day, and now he’s in a truck with six other people dressed in red jumpsuits, wearing Anonymous masks and holding AK-47’s.

“I’m reconsidering this.” Neon says and looks at him.

_“The first thing we need to make sure of if we want to pull this off is that all of our names will stay anonymous. From the police and from each other.” The Chemist said as soon as she sat everyone down in a room filled with floor plans and papers related to the heist._

_They all looked at each other._

_“But you know our names. How do we know that you won’t turn us in?” the guy in the back of the room with the olive skin and tattoos asks. It’s the first time Louis has ever heard him speak._

_“I want the money as much as you do. And there’s no reason for me to turn on you. Therefore, each one of you needs to pick an chemical element and that will be your name until you’re out of that building on your way to freedom.”_

_But Louis wasn’t one to be played with, so at night, when everyone went to sleep, he snuck into the Chemists’ office and rummaged through the piles of papers until he found what he was looking for. Everyone’s names, except of the Chemists’._

_So the next day when they were all back in the planning room ready to get more instructions, he already memorized everyone’s sheet, including the words scribbled in red by the Chemist which highlighted their strength._

**_Neon_ ** _, also known as Eleanor Calder, was 21 and was charged for a diamond heist in Paris. She was an expert in digging through almost everything, even iron. She escaped from prison and that’s why she had people looking for her. **“The Gold Digger.”**_

**_Silver_ ** _, also known as Gigi Hadid, was 19 and wanted for posing as a prostitute just to steal from rich men. Also wanted for counterfeiting money. **“The Money Maker.”**_

**_Oxygen,_ ** _aka Hailee Steinfeld, was 20 and wanted for illegal gun smuggling and posing as a prostitute to steal from the rich. **“The Gun”**_

**_Iron,_ ** _aka Liam Payne, was 20 and wanted because he beat up and tortured guys for the mafia. **“The Muscle.”**_

**_Zink_ ** _, aka Zayn Malik, was 21. He had the FBI looking for him because he hacked into NASA, CIA and their own servers several times until he slipped up. His IQ was 149. **“The Brains.”**_

**_Mercury_ ** _, aka Nick Grimshaw, was 27 and wanted for stealing, drug dealing and money laundering. **“The Leader.”**_

_Then there was Louis, who was **Hydrogen** , who was wanted for the murder of his entire family-allegedly. **“The missing piece.”**_

_Louis wasn’t going to reveal to anyone that he knew their names, but it was good leverage in case any of them would recognize him from the papers at some point._

_“I’m going to go through the most important rules for you to follow during the heist, the first one being the most important, and I mean it. If you disobey this rule, you’re as good as dead and I will not hesitate to turn you in.”_

_Everyone looked at each other._

_“First rule. Do NOT kill any hostages.”_

“Stop whining and get to it, we’re here.” Nick says and pulls the mask over his face just as the truck comes to a halt in the back of the warehouse.

They’ve managed to exchange their truck with the actual truck that was supposed to enter the Bank and drop off Gigi and Hailee at the entrance so they could lock the main doors from inside. Louis hijacked the police car together with Liam, meanwhile Nick was driving the truck with Eleanor and Zayn, following suit.

They managed to get past security and once they’re inside in the Bank, Louis gets out of the car and signals Nick to signal Zayn, who’s on his laptop, hacking into the servers, to lock the door. His heart is beating fast as the giant door comes down and reaches the floor with a loud thud. There’s a locking sound.

They’re in.

Louis and Liam quickly change into their red suits, before Eleanor opens the back of the truck and they pick up their rifles from one of the many boxes filled with guns.

“You ready guys?” she smirks and pulls the mask over her face. The others follow her motion and put their masks on as well, before running around the truck to get to the workers.

“Nobody fucking move!” Liam shouts and the three workers in the warehouse nearly shit themselves as their hands fly up in the air, shocked.

For a moment, Louis feels bad, and then he remembers that he’s doing this for Lottie and maybe a good lawyer for himself, and a better life in which he doesn’t have to run for no reason.

They follow the workers through a couple of doors and hallways, and it would be really hard to remember the way they took to get to the main lobby from the warehouse, but they’re spent the last month studying the blueprints.

When they get to the main lobby, the main door is already shut, locked tight. Gigi and Hailee are holding sixty-two people hostage, sixty-five counting the three workers they’ve just brought in.

“Put these on.” Louis instructs and they hand out sleeping masks for everyone to put over their eyes. He can literally smell the anxiety and the fear in the giant hall as everyone puts their masks on with trembling hands.

“Where’s Harry Styles?” Nick asks, looking around.

_The Chemist places a photo on the board and writes down a name next to it._

_“Harry Styles.” She says. “Son of Des Styles, Her Majesty’s attorney general for England and Wales, with connections to the police and the British Intelligence. He has an interview scheduled on the day you’re going to break into the Bank, which means we’ve got leverage.”_

_Eleanor raises her hand and asks why they would need leverage._

_“Because as long as he’s in there, the police will not take any drastic measures and will most likely not send squads to try and break into the Bank, because there’s a chance that he’ll get hurt. Also, he’s our key out.”_

_“How is he our key out?” Louis asks, confused as to why his face seems quite familiar._

_“We’ll take him hostage and threaten to kill him if they try to follow us. It’s simple really. All we have to do is keep him hostage until we’re out of London and then let him go. So whatever you do, Harry Styles cannot be hurt. Do you get that?”_

“Got him.” Louis hears Liam’s voice, before he sees two people in red suits with their masks on walking down the stairs towards them, pointing their guns at Harry Styles and Simon Cowell, the man in charge.

“Sit down and put this on.” Nick says, pushing the barrel of his gun against Harry’s back, who falls to his knees and takes the mask. Simon does the same thing and then they’re pulled in line with the other hostages.

“Mercury, don’t be so harsh.” Hailee tells him and then starts counting. “Sixty-seven hostages.”

“Sounds about right.” Nick says and they all take their masks off once Zayn confirms that the cameras have been disabled, staring at each other in disbelief. They did it. Almost. They’ve got one more job to do to make sure that they’ll be here for the next ten days.

Eleanor and Gigi emerge from a side door, holding four bags filled with cash, smirking, so Nick presses the button on his Bluetooth earpiece. “Got the money. Part 3 is a-go.”

Zayn nods from his place at the front desk and types something on his laptop, before the alarm starts blaring through the entire Bank.

“Two minutes until the police get here. You ready?” Nick asks, looking at Louis, who picks up two bags with one hand and nods.

They get in line by the front doors, waiting for the signal that will let them know the doors are opening.

“One minute.” Nick says and they pull their masks back onto their faces.

_“We’re going to trick the police into thinking that we only went in for a robbery, and that they caught us while we were trying to flee.” The Chemist says on their fourth day. “You’re going to shoot at them ONLY if they try to shoot you, before you slowly retreat back inside and close the doors, so they think they’ve got you trapped in like rats. If they think that, they’re never going to suspect that that was our plan all along, nor that you’re trying to counterfeit money and escape through the vault.”_

Louis has no idea why they picked him to be the first one to exit the bank, but he went along with it anyway.

“Ten seconds.” Nick says and there’s a loud commotion before the doors automatically open thanks to Zayn’s handiwork and Louis runs, Liam and Hailee in tow. As expected, two police cars come up around the corner and come to a screeching halt by the steps.

Two policemen get out of the car and take shelter behind the car doors. The first shot goes right past Louis’ ear, so he fires shots in their direction, alongside Hailee and Liam. He can hear the hostages screaming in fear as shots are being fired and he feels guilty just for a split second.

“Fuck!” Liam yelps and Louis turns his head to see him falling to the ground, blood oozing out of his shoulder.

Hailee shoots at the police car, hitting the driver’s side window, which comes shattering down. She holds up the police while Louis struggles to pull Liam back up the steps and inside the Bank. He sees Hailee getting angrier and angrier,

“Close the fucking gates!” he yells at Zayn and watches Hailee run back inside, still shooting at the police, before the gates close with a loud thud and then a locking sound echoes through the room.

Zayn rushes to Liam’s side and curses, placing his hand over the wound. Louis frowns, but doesn’t say anything.

“You hit one of the policemen!” Nick yells at Hailee, who huffs.

“Fuck you, they shot Iron! What was I supposed to do? Just sit there and pretend to fire shots towards the sky?” she yells back, tacking off her mask.

“Pretty much, yeah!”

“Fuck you.”

“Take him to the office.” Louis tells Zayn, who helps Liam up and watches them struggle up the stairs towards the first floor, where they set up an office with an untraceable home phone so they could get in touch with the Chemist.

Zayn and Liam disappear and Louis changes his mind, following them to make sure Liam is okay.

***

 _Harry Styles, 19, dies during hostage situation in Bank of England,_ Harry thinks as he tries to see something, anything, through the sleeping mask he was forced to put on his eyes. His body still hasn’t come down from the adrenaline rush he got from having a gun pointed at his face and then against his back.

“You can take your masks off.” A female voice says and then the dark before Harry’s eyes is replaced with light. He takes in the scene before him. There are people on their knees or sitting down next to him and in front of him, all looking absolutely terrified and confused, not comprehending that this is all happening to them.

Niall is standing to his right, two people away from him. The people in the red suits have their masks on top of their heads and Harry is absolutely shocked to see that they’re probably three years older than him, at most. There are three girls and one older looking guy.

“Oh my God.” He hears Niall gasp and he turns his head, locking eyes with him. “That’s her.”

“What?” Harry asks in a hushed tone so the red suits won’t hear them.

“That’s her. The girl I told you about.” Niall whispers, nodding his head over to one of the girls in red suits. Harry remembers Niall telling him about a beautiful girl coming in a month ago that seemed psycho because she kept looking up. Probably checking where the cameras were. Huh.

“Stop talking.” The guy warns him, waving his gun.

Harry leans back and shuts his mouth, heart beating faster in his chest. A guy with raven hair, olive skin and dark eyes comes down the steps with a duffle bag and hands it over to the older guy.

“I’m going to collect your phones and I need your passwords. And names.”

“Just to this side Mercury, and I’ll do this one.” The raven-haired guy says and Mercury nods. Okay, so they’re not using their real names. Clever.

They take everyone’s phones one by one and write the passwords on stickers, which they tape to the back of the phones. Once they’re done, Mercury turns to the raven-haired guy.

“Zink, take these upstairs and place them on the table.”

Harry frowns. Are they all named after chemical elements?

“Everyone who works in the money factory or the warehouse, stand up.” one of the girls says and about twenty people stand up, shaking. “Follow me.”

“Silver, wait.” Niall’s crush says. “Take the guys from the warehouse as well.”

“No, I’ll take them.” The third girl says as the warehouse workers stand up. She points her gun at them. “Take me to the room closest to the ground.” Before she starts walking though, she turns to Niall’s crush. “Oxygen, don’t forget him.”

Then follows them out of the main hall and Harry keeps looking around confused.

“Harry Styles, come with me.” Oxygen says, looking at Harry, who stands up, heart beating out of his chest.

He follows her upstairs and through some corridors until they’re in front of a door that reads ‘Office’.

There’s a big table in the middle of the room, filled with papers and blueprints and cigarette packs. In the corner stands another table with the phones and the names of whom they belong to. In the other corner, on the couch, lays a guy in a red suit stained with blood on his right shoulder.

“Fucking hell.” Zink says as he comes into the office with a wet rag. He stops when he sees Harry and then looks at Oxygen, whose gun is still pointed at Harry.

“Is he going to be okay?” Oxygen asks him and the guy nods, before handing the rag over to the wounded guy.

“We need to go downstairs and make a list of their names and their allergies and stuff.” Zink says and the wounded guy stands up. “You need to rest.”

“No, I’m gonna be okay.” The guy insists as he holds the rag against his shoulder. “Neon can pull the bullet out later. We need to stick to the plan right now.”

“The plan has already gone to shit, Iron, in case you haven’t noticed.” Zink tells him and Harry has a hard time remembering all the names. Their faces, however, will never fade from his memory. He’s quite good with faces, but really bad with names.

The two guys leave the room and Oxygen instructs him to sit down on the chair against the wall and call the police, so he can let his father and the whole world know that he’ll be okay. The girl takes his phone from the table and punches his password in, before she opens his contact list and dials 999.

“You’re going to tell them who you are and that we’ve been nice and didn’t use violence.” She tells him before pressing the call button and handing his over his phone.

Harry gulps and does as instructed, voice shaking as he talks to the operator. Once he hangs up, the phone is being snatched out of his hands and placed back on the table. He watches her walk over to a storage closet and pulling out something, before she walks back over to him.

“Put this on and wait here.” She tells him and places a wrapped, transparent package in her lap. “It’s a red suit.”

Then she leaves him alone. Harry looks over at the table with the phones, contemplating whether he should turn his back on and send his father a quick text. He keeps thinking about it as he strips down to his underwear and pulls the red suit over his legs. He stops, bare-chested, and walks over to the phones, trying to find his.

His heart is beating out of his chest as he spots his name on one of the stickers and reaches out to grab it.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A voice behind him says and Harry’s heart falls into his pants. He turns around, hands gripping the red suit.

There’s a guy standing there, in his red suit, a neck tattoo peaking out from under his collar. He looks familiar. He’s also one of the most beautiful people Harry has ever seen in his life and he thinks that if the circumstances were any different, he’d be drowning in those eyes.

“I was just…I’m sorry.” Harry panics. This guy looks dangerous, and it’s not just because he has an AK-47 in his hands. He’s got something in his eyes; a mixture of darkness and sorrow. Harry’s seen him before.

He zips up his suit once he remembers that he’s half naked with a gun pointed in his direction.

“I’ve seen you somewhere before.” Harry tells him and the guy cocks his head to the side, and Harry swears there’s fear in his eyes for just a second.

“I don’t think you have.” The guy says.

“So what’s your name then?”

“You’ve got some balls, don’t you?”

Harry shrugs. “No. I know you won’t tell me your actual name. I meant what chemical element are you?”

The guy raises an eyebrow with respect. “Hydrogen.”

“Nice.” Harry says, leaning against the table, still thinking about his phone.

“You’re quite relaxed for someone who has a gun pointed at them.”

“You won’t shoot me.” Harry dares, hoping Hydrogen (or whatever his name is) can’t tell he’s shitting himself right now.

“Wanna bet?” the guy dares, a smirk spreading over his lips.

Okay, why did Harry think that talking back to a guy with tattoos all over his body and a gun in his hand would be a good idea?

“No, you’re just…your eyes.”

“My eyes.” Hydrogen states. “What about them?”

“There’s no trace of evil in them. Not like the ones ‘Mercury’ has.”

“Listen kid, I don’t know what kind of adrenaline rush you’ve got going on right now, but I’m warning you. Stop talking shit or I’ll blow your brains out.”

Harry licks his lips. He knows he’s right, judging by the way the guy just let his gun hand at his side.

“I don’t think you would hurt anyone.”

So Harry never had the guts to talk back to his father in the past nineteen years but he thought it would be the right moment to finally have the courage and talk back to a tattooed guy holding a gun? What is his life, honestly. What is _he_.

__

__

Hydrogen looks down at his feet for a moment, which is a textbook sign of someone with insecurities. The eyes never lie.

“Do you want to test out that theory?” Hydrogen asks, regaining his tough guy composure.

“Uh, no.”

“Thought so.” Hydrogen says and then motions with his gun towards the door. “Now c’mon, you have to get back to the hostages.”

Harry obliges and looks back at his phone one last time before he walks over to the door, trying to search his brain of any type of memory that would help him pinpoint where and when he actually saw this guy. Because he never forgets a face.

“Oh my God.” He says and stops when he’s halfway down the hallway, turning around. He bumps into Hydrogen and takes a step back.

“I met you at the pub a month ago. Your name is Louis.”

The guys’ expression changes completely, from determined to absolutely mortified, and Harry knows he’s right. The name of the guy who’s currently pointing a gun at him, the guy who calls himself Hydrogen with the hopes of keeping his anonymity for the whole duration of a clearly planned heist, is _Louis_.


	2. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is the second chapter, let me know what you think in the comments :) 
> 
> _**Chapter warnings: non-graphic description of gun violence and violence in general, mention of panic attacks**_
> 
> p.s. I also want to mention once again that I am completely against guns, but it's fiction and it's a heist AU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Louis Tomlinson, 21 - **Hydrogen**. Has been on the run since he was 16, because he’s framed for his family’s murder in Doncaster. **"The missing piece."**_

**Day 1 – 2 hours into the heist (Thursday, 20th , 2pm)**

_19-year-old boy has heart attack because of the blue in a robber’s eyes_

Louis (Harry’s 99.99% sure that’s his name now) blinks at him and lowers his gun in a moment of weakness. Now, if Harry were in a spy movie and would have the guts to do it, he’d take the gun away from him and save the day.

But it’s not a spy movie and Harry’s not a bad guy, therefore he doesn’t even bother to take the gun away. Maybe later. Or never.

“Get moving, hostage.” Louis growls and hoists his gun back up, motioning towards the direction they were going.

Harry doesn’t object. Mainly because he has a gun pointed at him (lowkey because he likes the deep voice Louis’ making right now, in contrast to his usually, slightly high-pitched voice-not that the voice isn’t beautiful and-okay, he’s getting carried away from the situation at hand; the guy’s a robber for God’s sake).

The situation hasn’t changed downstairs; the two girls (Oxygen –aka Niall’s weird crush- and Silver – aka the one who could be a model but chose a more dangerous profession) are writing down names and taking personal information such as disabilities, mental health problems (and health problems in general) and allergies. Everyone’s in a red suit by now, which is clever, so there’s no doubt in Harry’s mind that everything’s been meticulously planned.

“Harry Styles, do you have any allergies or health problems?” Oxygen asks after Harry’s sat down in his previous place. He shakes his head. Why do they know his name? Did they actually remember it when he wrote it down when he gave them his phone? He doesn’t ask.

“Okay, so we got two vegetarians and one diabetic.” Silver informs Louis, who nods and takes the lists. “Also, that one over there is six months pregnant.”

Louis looks over to where she’s pointing. “Try not to point any guns at her, okay? She’s already stressed, we don’t need to induce any more.”

“Where are we going to sleep? What are we going to eat? Can’t you just let us go?” one man asks and Mercury turns to look at him, before he slowly starts walking in his direction.

Stupid stupid stupid, Harry thinks, shaking his head. The last thing everyone needs is someone provoking these guys holding guns.

“Stand up.” Mercury tells the man, who does as he’s told, clearly shitting himself. “Do you have something to say?”

“N-no…it’s just…”

“You want to get out? Be my guest.” Mercury continues, holding the gun up to his head. “Steal my gun, c’mon. I dare you.”

Harry bites his lip. He hates this guy. He hates them all. Who does this? Why do people do this?

Harry never really understood why there’s evil in the world.

“Mercury, drop it.” Louis tells him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Stop harassing hostages.”

So Louis is trying to win everyone over into thinking he’s the good guy. Not a bad strategy, Harry thinks.

“I’m going to bring them some water.” Silver says and then jogs over to the stairs.

“Does anyone need to go to the bathroom?” Oxygen asks and two girls hold up their hands, so she motions for them to stand up and walk in front of her towards the bathrooms on the first floor.

“Harry.” he hears Simon whispering from behind him, so Harry turns his head slightly to signal him that he’s listening.

“I have a phone in my office. In the top desk drawer.” Simon whispers and Harry’s eyes move over to where Louis and Mercury are still arguing.

“I can’t get to it.” Harry whispers back. “They’ll kill me if they catch me.”

“No, Harry, you have to. Otherwise they’ll kill us. They’ve seen our faces and-“

“Silence over there!” Mercury yells and startles them, sending a new adrenaline rush through Harry’s body.

He shakes his head and looks up towards the sky, looking for some kind of answers as to why everything is happening. He doesn’t get one.

***

**Day 1 – 5 hours into the heist (Thursday, 20th, 5pm)**

“Harry Styles, stand up.” Iron tells him.

For some weird reason, Harry’s actually relieved to be standing up, because his ass has already gone numb from all the sitting he’s done. Why they’re always picking him out of the crowd (okay, it’s the second time but whatever), Harry has no idea. He’s got so many questions and theories, he’s going crazy.

“You six.” Harry hears Mercury say as he walks up the stairs, extremely aware of Iron a meter behind him. “Follow me, we’re going to bring some food.”

They’re back inside the main office, and Zink is at the desk, typing something on his laptop.

“You’re going to call the police again and you’re going to tell them that the doors will be opened in two hours and you’re going to step out to give a statement. And if anyone engages, we’re going to kill hostages.” Iron says and takes Harry’s phone from the table, turning it back on.

Harry dials 999 and does exactly as Liam tells him to. This time, he’s instantly redirected to the police chief, who isn’t even listening to what he’s got to say, asking him all sorts of questions.

“Stay on the line for one more minute and point the camera at them. We’re hacking into your phone.” The police chief says and Harry continues telling them what he’s been told to, heart beating faster as he tries to make the call last as long as possible. “Exit the call and open your camera.”

The door to the main office opens and slams against the wall.

“Iron, we need you downstairs. There’s a problem.” Oxygen breathes (the irony) and Iron looks over at Zink, telling him to keep an eye on Harry, before he runs after her.

Zink sighs and grabs the handgun he’s got next to him on the table. Harry exits the call and presses on the screen, praying that he knows his screen well enough to have pressed the camera app, not removing the phone from his ear. He doesn’t say anything.

“Great, Harry, you’re doing great. Do a 360 around the room and point it to anyone you see.” The police chief tells him and Harry does as asked.

“Hey! Hang up right now!” Zink yells at him and walks over, ripping the phone out of his hands, ending the call.

Harry’s heart is beating out of his chest.

“Fuck, man.” Zink mumbles and turns off the phone, before he places it back with the rest of them.

“I didn’t do anything, I swear.” Harry says, holding his hands up in defense.

“Shut up and sit down until someone comes back to get you.”

***

**Day 1 – 5:30 hours into the heist (Thursday, 20th, 5:30pm)**

Liam and Hailee managed to bring the guy who was having a panic attack into another room and calm him down, so Louis and Nick are left to supervise the hostages while Gigi goes to the bathroom with a group of four girls. He hands Harry his portion of food and watches him as he eats, just in case he decides to keep the fork or something.

He keeps thinking about the guy who had a panic attack and there’s a pang in his chest. When he signed up for this, he clearly didn’t think about the effect it would have on the hostages as much as he should have.

Not to mention that Harry Styles knows his name. He doesn’t know his last name, but if his first name is being released to the police, it won’t be long until they figure out who he is. The plan has already gone to shit and it’s barely day one.

“FUCKING HELL!” someone yells from upstairs so him and Liam rush upstairs to the main office, where Zayn’s yelling.

The TV is on and there’s a ‘Breaking News’ coverage on BBC.

“One of the heist men has been identified as Zayn Javadd Malik.” The news anchor says and two pictures of Zayn are being displayed, one of them being of the one time he was arrested. “At just 21 years of age, he’s been running from the police for two years for hacking to important databases.”

Liam stares at Zayn and Louis tries to act as if it’s the first time he learns Zayn’s name.

“How the fuck did this happen?” Liam growls and turns to look at Zayn, who’s completely losing it.

“What’s going on?” Nick asks as he enters the room and his eyes fall on the TV. “Shit.”

Zayn is cursing and screaming, and it’s the first time Louis’ seen him like this.

Nick swears and then leaves the room, loading his gun. Louis runs after him and stops at the bottom of the stairs.

“Who did it?” Nick yells at the hostages. “Who sent a photo of one of our men to the police? Who has a fucking phone?”

The hostages are scared and a few people are crying as Nick walks among them. He picks one of them out and orders them to strip down.

“Mercury, hold on.” Louis says, but Nick isn’t listening.

“Wait.”

Louis turns towards the top of the stairs, where Zayn is standing. “I know what happened.”

Nick stops to look at him, before he tells the guy to dress back up and then walks over to Zayn. “Do tell.”

“It was the kid. I didn’t pay attention to him for a few seconds and the police must’ve told him to go onto his camera so they could hack his phone and get photos. Then they ran the photo through a face recognition tool and…” Zayn trails off.

“You think we’re allowed to have moments of weakness in here?” Nick yells at him, and then grabs him by his collar. “Hydrogen, grab the kid and take him to Cowell’s office. I’ll be there in a second. I just have to take care of something first.”

Louis turns to look at Harry, who’s obviously scared shitless. He walks over there and Harry stands up immediately. Louis presses the gun against his side and then follows him to Cowell’s office on the first floor.

Harry awkwardly stops by Simon’s desk, hands hanging by his side.

“I would ask you why you did it, but it’s a stupid question.” Louis tells him, gun still pointed at him. “I wouldn’t have though you’d be the reckless type.”

“You don’t know me.” Harry says and his eyes widen. He obviously forgot to activate his brain-to-mouth filter.

“I know enough to know you’re the goody-two-shoes type.”

Harry hangs his head and stares at the floor. Louis chews on his top lip, getting impatient. He turns towards the door and opens it.

“Mercury, what the fuck are you doing?!”

He sees Nick leaving the main office to jog over to him. Harry’s leaning against the desk when Nick enters the room and Louis doesn’t like the expression on his face.

“You sure have some balls.” Nick tells Harry and gets closer to him, grabbing him by the curls.

“Mercury.” Louis warns.

“Do you need to be taught a lesson?” Nick pushes.

“N-no, I’m sorry.”

“I think you do, because you won’t behave until-“

“Mercury.” Louis repeats, raising his voice. “Don’t hurt him.”

Nick turns to look at him, then looks back at Harry. “This is your first warning Styles.”

“I’m sorry.” Harry says.

“That means shit to me.” Nick places his gun against Harry’s chest. “Next time you pull something like this, I’ll press the trigger and then it’s bye bye hedge fund.”

Louis rolls his eyes and hears Liam yelling in the main office, so he groans and takes one more look towards Nick and Harry, before he’s out of the room.

He finds Liam gripping into Zayn’s chin in the main office. Zayn’s got a bloody lip and a black eye.

“I’ll fucking kill him.” Liam huffs, looking at Louis. “I’ll fucking kill him!”

“Iron.” Zayn says, gently wrapping his fingers around Liam’s and pulling his hand away from his face.

Louis raises his eyebrows at the gesture. Something’s going on between them. Zayn catches Louis’ eye and takes a step back from Liam, for good measure.

Liam picks up the landline phone, chest puffing, to get in touch with the Chemist.

“Listen.” He says into the phone, but looks up at the camera in the corner of the room, which he knows the Chemist looks at on her computer. “I don’t give a fuck if we have a rule of no violence, I’ll break Mercury’s legs, I swear to God. Tell him to stop harassing Zayn or I’ll shoot him in the head and walk out right now. He’s on some fucking adrenaline high-“

Nick snatches the phone out of Liam’s hand and points the gun towards him. Liam points his own gun at Nick and Louis does the same. This guy’s fucking crazy.

“I think Iron and Zayn also broke one of the rules.” Nick says into the phone. “You know, the strict rule about not getting emotionally involved with each other and keeping it professional?”

Zayn looks down at his hands and Louis’ heart hurts for him. People don’t get to choose who they fall for and under which circumstances.

“Drop the gun, Mercury.” Louis hears the Chemist say through his Bluetooth. Nick hesitates. “I said, drop the fucking gun Mercury.” She’s serious and Nick finally puts his hand down. The tension in the room shifts to a lighter tone.

“Now get on with the plan.” Is the last thing she says before Nick’s line goes dead and the sound in Louis’ earpiece disappears.

“I’ll go check on Neon.” Nick says and leaves the room, leaving the three of them alone.

“He’s going to kill someone, I’m telling you.” Liam tells no one in particular before he walks over to Zayn. Louis decides it’s time to leave them alone and get on with his part of the plan.

“Harry Styles.” He says when he’s back downstairs. “And you three.” He points to the three people standing next to him. “Get up and put these masks on.”

Hailee hands them Anonymous masks and Gigi gives them guns.

“They’re not loaded, just in case you’re trying to pull something stupid.” she tells them.

“Fuckin’ hell, I never thought I’d hold a gun in my life.” A guy with an Irish accent tells Harry, who agrees.

“No talking.” Hailee warns.

“Yes m’am.”

“What’s your name?” she asks him.

“Niall. And yours? Wait, shit, I’m not supposed to ask that. Forget I asked anything.” Niall stutters and Hailee shakes her head, trying to suppress a smile.

“Just put your mask on, _Niall_.” She tells him, but pulls the mask over his head for him.

“You’re going to read this while speaking into a megaphone.” Gigi instructs Harry. “If you go off script, you die. Simple as that.”

Harry nods and Louis tells Zayn to open the front doors. The windows stay barricaded as the door opens and sunlight enters the hallway. When the doors stop moving, open just enough for the six of them to go though, there’s rumbling coming from outside and Louis pulls Harry’s mask over his face, before he does the same for himself.

“Move.” Hailee urges from behind Harry and they step towards the open doors. Once the outside world comes into view, Harry is shocked. The gun is heavy in his arms as he keeps walking until he’s a few steps down, facing the policemen hiding behind their cars and the SWAT team sprawled all over the lawn in front of them. The area is sealed off and there’s a giant police tent in the corer, where the orders are probably coming from, right next to three News trucks.

The Chemist connects them to the police radio so Louis can hear everything they say through his earpiece.

_“Hold your fire.”_

“Take off your mask.” Louis instructs and Harry does so, before Louis holds the megaphone in front of his face.

Harry looks down at the list and begins reading. “My name is Harry Styles. My father is Her Majesty’s attorney general for England and Wales. Please do not shoot. There are sixty-seven hostages, all unharmed and doing well.” Ha. “We’re all dressed up in red suits and have masks on, so you cannot tell us apart.”

_“Sir, the one next to Mr. Styles is definitely a heist man.”_

Louis grits his teeth as Harry continues reading.

_“Sir, do we shoot him?”_

Louis’ heart starts beating faster as Harry reads the last two lines of the script, before they slowly retreat backwards, their faces to the police.

_“Sir, do we shoot him? Sir, they’re going back inside.”_

Just two more steps and they’re inside.

 _“Hold your fire. Do not shoot.”_ comes the answer and Louis exhales as he watches the doors slowly close in front of him.

“I think I just pissed meself.” He hears Niall say as he takes off his mask and he chuckles, before he composes himself and tells the hostages to get back to their places after they give back their guns.

Another round of girls go to the bathroom with Gigi, and a man in the second row of the hostages has had enough, because he stands up, making everybody gasp. He looks at Louis, whose mask is perched on top of his head.

“You’re all liars. I do not believe that any of the guns are loaded. You’re trying to scare us. But there are sixty more of us.” The man says and Louis opens his mouth to say something, but a gunshot echoes through the giant hall and everybody screams.

“You think we’re liars?” Louis hears Nick’s voice from the top of the stairs. The man is absolutely terrified. “Do you need me to prove you wrong?” Nick starts walking down the stairs, holding his gun up towards the ceiling.

“No Sir.” The man apologizes and sits back down.

“I think we’re losing their respect.” Nick tells Louis.

“Respect? They don’t have any respect for us. They fear us.”

Nick smiles. “Fear is much more powerful than respect, Hydrogen.”

“Stop talking like you’re the Godfather.” Louis mumbles, and it earns him some chuckles from the hostages.

“Does anyone find the situation funny?” Nick asks, turning to them, shutting them up instantly. Then he turns to Louis. “Go get Iron and take the men to the bathrooms once the last group of women comes back.”

***

**Day 1 – 7 hours into the heist (Thursday, 20th, 7pm)**

“Did everyone go to the bathroom?” Liam asks, looking around.

Harry holds his hand up. “We didn’t.” he says and points to the five guys, including Simon and Niall, next to him.

“I’ll take them.” Louis says and the five men stand up.

The men’s bathroom has five cubicles and four sinks, so Harry waits by the wall as the others undress all the way to their underwear and start washing themselves with soap and water above the sink.

“We’re treated like rats.” One of them (Max, Harry thinks) says.

“Shut up.” Louis instructs from where he’s standing next to the door.

Harry watches Louis, wondering if his plan of revealing his real name to the other robbers would be a good idea. Definitely not.

Simon goes into one of the cubicles, not before he throws Harry a knowing look, so Harry chooses the one next to him and locks the door. They wait for someone to turn the water on before they get down on their knees and bend down so they’re looking at each other under the cubicle walls.

“I have the phone.” Harry whispers.

“Where is it? Give it to me.”

“It’s in my under-“

There’s banging against Simon’s door and Harry’s heart drops, so he shuffles up onto his feet and flushes the toilet. He waits five more seconds and then exits the bathroom.

“Do not to go the toilet next to each other.” Louis warns them as Simon zips his suit back up. “Styles, go wash yourself.”

Harry unzips his suit until it reaches the elastic band of his briefs, before he grabs the soap and turns on the faucet. As he washes himself, he looks in the mirror just to make eye contact with Louis, who’s obviously staring. Harry turns the water off and turns around to dry himself with the towel. Louis is still staring at his open birdcage tattoo on his ribs. Then his eyes roam over the ship on his upper arm, before he realizes Harry caught on to his staring, so he coughs and orders him to dress up already.

Harry pulls the tank top he’s been given over his head before he zips up his suit. Then they follow Louis back downstairs.

***

**Day 1 – 10:45 hours into the heist (Thursday, 20th, 10:45pm)**

They’ve been given sandwiches for dinner before they’ve been split four groups of nine and one group of eight, before they were taken either upstairs or in the offices on the ground floor to sleep. Harry, thank God, got to stick with Niall, as the eight of them were being taken to one of the offices upstairs, right next to the main office. Harry hasn’t seen the warehouse workers or the people who got taken away by Neon earlier this morning to go to the ‘money factory’.

The office has a desk with two chairs, a coffee table and two couches.

Oxygen is watching them from one of the chairs by desk as they each take pillows from the couches and find a comfortable (what a joke) place to sleep in.

“We’re being treated like rats.” Max huffs as he lays down on the floor by the barricaded window and fluffs his pillow.

“Shut up.” Oxygen tells him, but doesn’t bother to grab her gun that’s resting on the desk.

Two older men take the two couches, another guy goes next to Max, and two guys take the rug, which leaves Harry and Niall to lean against the back of one of the couches.

“I can’t believe I’m in the same room with one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen but she has a gun and my life is in danger.” Niall whispers to Harry as he tries to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in. He can’t sleep on his stomach because he’s scared of breaking the phone in his briefs.

“Yeah, well, I can’t believe this is happening, period.” Harry whispers back.

“Just because I can’t see you doesn’t mean I can’t hear you.” Oxygen’s voice sounds through the room and Niall’s eyes widen.

“Yeah lads, we’d all like to sleep right now to get away from everything if that’s possible.” He hears one of the guys say and Niall snorts.

Leave it up to Niall to still be able to smile about the situation they’re in.

The door opens an hour later and because Harry’s unable to sleep, he peaks his head around the corner of the couch to see Louis walking in with a flashlight.

“You can go sleep now. My shift starts now.” he tells Oxygen, who thanks him and grabs her gun before exiting the room.

Louis sits down at the desk and props his feet up on the table. He unzips his suit and takes the upper part of it off because it’s quite warm in the room and the tank top underneath is keeping him warm enough. Even though it’s dark in the room and the flashlight is pointed to the opposite wall, Harry’s suspicions, that Louis is heavily tattooed, are officially confirmed.

“Go to sleep.”

Louis’ voice startles him and he feels his cheeks burning up, so he shuffles back next to Niall, away from Louis’ gaze, and closes his eyes.

He can’t fall asleep though, so he stares at the dark ceiling for what seems like hours. Three of the nine people in the room are snoring, which makes it even harder for Harry to fall asleep. He peers over to Louis, whose head is back against the seat, feet still propped up on the table as he sleeps.

A wild idea goes through Harry’s head. A stupid idea. But it might work.

He slowly stands up and toes off his Converse, before he tiptoes over to the desk. His heart is beating out of his chest as he extends his arm to grab the gun. Five more centimeters. Four.

Three.

He’s going to be sick.

Two. Shit, almost there.

One.

The gun feels cold under his fingers.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Harry’s breath stops. Louis is staring at him now, but his arms are still crossed over his chest and his biceps are still bulging out and he hasn’t moved. He thinks Harry won’t act upon it. So he grabs the gun and holds it in Louis’ direction. He tries to find the trigger as he stares at Louis, who sits up straight and removes his feet from the table.

Nobody moves and the snores still fill up the room.

“Well?” Louis asks, standing up from the chair and walking around the desk so he’s a meter away from Harry.

“Well what?”

“Are you going to shoot me or do you just like holding guns?”

The-he can’t be serious.

“Give me the gun.”

“No.”

Louis cocks his head and extends his hand. “Give me the gun, for fuck’s sake.”

“You’ll tell Mercury.”

“All I have to do is press the button on my earpiece and tell them to come here.” Louis tells them and leans against the table. Harry adjusts his grip on the gun, fingertip on the trigger.

“Not if I’ll shoot you.”

“To quote you, you won’t shoot me.” Louis says and runs a hand through his hair.

“Maybe I will.”

Louis huffs. “So do it.”

Then he pushes himself off the table and takes two more steps until his chest is pressed up against the barrel of the gun. He smells incredible, like cigarettes and cologne, not at all like Harry had imagined. Not that he’s thought about it.

“Getting bored over here.” Louis whispers and his hand comes up to touch Harry’s, before he suddenly grabs the gun out of his arms and places it on the desk behind him.

Harry’s too shocked to react.

“Now go back to sleep.” Louis tells him.

“Wait. If Mercury had been here, he would’ve killed me. Why are you…nice?”

“Neither I nor you want to kill anyone, right? What you’re doing right now is what I would’ve done if I were in your shoes. And I think you’re smart enough to figure out that killing anyone would mean a looong time in prison. You know, since you study law and all that.”

Harry looks down at the ground for a second. “Why do all of you know so much about me? Am I your scapegoat or something?”

“It’s-“

“I am, aren’t I? Because of my father. I’m your leverage. So you won’t kill me.”

“I definitely wouldn’t. But N-Mercury on the other hand, would.” Louis says, eyes widening at what could’ve been a slip-off. But Harry caught it, because he’s always been a good listener.

“You know their real names.” Harry states. It’s a shot in the dark, but then again, he’s read a lot of psychology books to know that Louis’ expression means he’s right.

“And you make it really hard for me not to kill you.” Louis tells him.

“Why?”

“Because you’ve tried pulling several stunts on me already, you know my real name and you know I know everyone’s names.”

Harry licks his lips. “Maybe I’ll tell them.”

“You won’t.” Louis retorts and steps closer.

“I will.”

“They’ll kill me.”

Harry raises an eyebrow. “So?”

“So, you couldn’t live with yourself if they did. You’re good kid.”

“I’m nineteen.”

“I know.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“Does it really matter?”

“Yeah. You’re patronizing me just because you’ve got the gun.”

“I’m sorry.”

Harry nods, putting his right foot over his left.

“Now go to sleep. And don’t pull anything like that again, okay?”

“What will you do if I do?” Harry asks as he walks back to his place and sits down, still looking at Louis.

“Well, it’s been said that I’m crazy.”

“Are you though?”

Louis shrugs and goes to sit down in his chair.

“I don’t think you want to find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading :)   
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter and whether I should continue the story in the comments :D If you have any ideas or scenes you'd like me to put in the story, feel free to share :D 
> 
> p.s. 2-3 chapters will be up once a week, so the story should be finished in about a month. Next chapter should be up either on Sunday or Monday.   
> 
> ☆ Follow me on [Tumblr](theboyfriendstagram.tumblr.com) for more updates about the story, or on [Twitter](twitter.com/ronniebennett94) ☆


	3. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the third chapter, let me know what you think :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Zayn Malik, 21 - **Zink**. Has the FBI looking for him because he hacked into NASA, CIA and their own servers several times until he slipped up. His IQ is 149. **“The Brains.”**_

**Day 2 – 26 hours into the heist (Friday, 21st, 1:30pm)**

They’re let out of the rooms they’ve slept in at 12pm to go to the bathrooms, five at a time, and by the time they’re served lunch (Chinese food-God knows whey they get all the food from), it’s way past 1pm.

“Listen up.” Mercury says once they’re all done with eating and drinking water. “I know you all need some fresh air, so we’re going to split into groups and go out on the roofs.”

Harry turns his head to look at Niall, just to see if he’s okay. They’re split into four groups of ten people each, because the factory workers and the warehouse workers are still downstairs printing money with Silver.

“Iron, go with Hydrogen’s group.” Mercury tells Iron. “I think you need to keep an eye out for Styles.”

Harry makes a face he hopes Mercury can’t see, because honestly. These guys have fucking guns and there are probably snipers up on the roof and they expect him to act out? In all fairness, he has stolen a fucking gun away from Louis in the last 10 hours, but that’s not the point. He’d never do anything to anger Mercury, that’s for sure.

Niall is in his group once again, so Harry makes sure to stand next to him as they’re handed the masks once they’re up on the last floor, ready to go out on the roof.

“Put your masks on and behave, otherwise you won’t breathe fresh air for the next eight days.” Iron says, and it’s a slip of the tongue, because Harry now knows they’re planning on finishing the heist in the next eight days.

Three of the hostages get unloaded guns so they can’t tell the hostages apart from the heist men, of course, and then Iron opens the door.

Harry never knew he’d need fresh air as much as he does now. Never knew he’d be this happy to be out in the open. He can see snipers on the rooftops of the buildings next to the Bank of England so he tries his best to act like he had nothing to do with the heist. Which is actually the truth, but they’re all wearing red suits and masks, so there is no way for the snipers to know who’s who.

He’s sitting next to Niall on the ground. He could tell it’s him because he’s the only one who has custom made Converse.

“I tried to steal a gun last night.” He confesses to Niall, and Harry can imagine how his eyes widen in shock under the mask.

“Oh my God!”

“Shh.” Harry shushes him when he sees Louis (he must be Louis, because he’s smaller than the other hostages up on the roof) turn his head in their directions.

Niall looks at Louis before he turns his head back to Harry. “And how did it go? Are you fuckin’ crazy mate?”

Harry shakes his head. “Um…Hydrogen was sleeping and I actually got the gun but he woke up.”

“And what did he do?”

“Took the gun back.”

Niall shakes his head. “You’re crazy, I swear to God. Don’t pull stunts like that Harry, they’re going to kill you.”

“I’m pretty sure they’ve got a certain set of rules and one of them is not to kill hostages.”

“They’re literally keeping sixty-seven hostages trapped like rats while they wave their AK-47’s around. I don’t think they’ll hesitate killing someone as long as it means their plan is going to work out.”

Harry looks in Louis’ direction now, wondering whether he’d be able to kill someone. If he were, Harry would probably be the first one. And he’s sure Louis would’ve done it already if Harry wasn’t their leverage to begin with.

“Shut your mouth.”

Iron’s voice snaps the two of them out of their conversation. He’s talking to one of the hostages.

“No, I’m not going to shut my fucking mouth. You know what the Chemist said about relationships.” Okay, so that’s Mercury’s voice. Harry didn’t even notice when he came up the roof.

“I swear to God, if you don’t shut up.” Iron warns and points his gun at Mercury.

“Iron, there are snipers out here.” Louis warns him and Harry was right when he guessed who Louis was, even with the mask and red hood on.

“I don’t give a fuck. You can’t talk about Zayn that way.”

Nick gets down on his knees and puts his hands up. Harry’s eyes widen, because Mercury is trying to act like he’s one of the hostages, threatened by one of the heist men.

And he’s right, because the next thing he hears is a shot, and then Iron falls to the ground, yelling in pain.

Louis curses and rushes over to him. “Everyone get back inside. Now!” he yells and then barks at one of the hostages to help him carry Iron back inside.

Harry’s heart is beating faster as he follows everyone back inside, the door to the roof closing with a loud thud.

Louis takes Iron’s mask off and checks to see if he’s breathing. He looks at Mercury.

“Tell Oxygen to meet me in the office.” Then he turns his head in Harry’s direction. “Grab his feet. You too.”

Niall and Harry rush over there and Mercury takes Iron’s gun before he leads the rest of the hostages down the stairs. Louis holds Liam up from under his armpits as Niall and Harry hold his legs.

They lay him down on the couch in the office, and Iron keeps groaning in pain as Louis unzips his suit and pushes it off his shoulders to reveal the gun wound. Now he has two gunshot wounds, and the bullets are still inside.

“Fucking hell, fuck fuck fuck.” Louis curses and runs a hand through his hair.

The door to the office slams against the wall and Oxygen enters, followed by a really mad Zayn.

Oxygen kneels in front of the couch and checks his wound as Zayn grabs the landline, saying he’ll call the Chemist.

“Yeah. Iron’s wounded. Again!” he yells into the phone. “You need to talk to the police and tell them to send in doctors to get his bullets out. Right fucking now.”

Harry exchanges looks with Niall. They’re awkwardly standing next to the couch, hands hanging by their sides, not knowing what to say or do. Oxygen looks at them then.

“Don’t just stand there, grab me the First Aid kit from that shelf!” she yells at them and Harry quickly reacts. He takes the kit to her and Niall hands her whatever she asks for.

“Why do you know so much about treating gunshot wounds?” Niall asks her.

“When Silver and I used to do our schemes, she would take care of the counterfeit money and I would take care of the…other stuff. Which means I would several gun shots all over my body and I eventually learned how to treat them until I saw a doctor.”

Niall stares at her. “That’s hot. Wait, forgot I said that.”

Oxygen rolls her eyes and then returns to stare at Iron’s wounds. “Yeah, we’ll need doctors to come in and take the bullets out and then stitch him up.”

Zayn repeats everything she’s saying to ‘the Chemist’ and after getting confirmation his face relaxes and he hangs up.

“What did she say?” Louis asks.

“She’ll talk to the police and get some doctors in here. Fuck!” Zayn swears and punches the wall.

Harry and Niall are eventually escorted back downstairs in the main hall, to sit with the other hostages, because Oxygen’s had enough of Niall’s nervous rambling.

***

**Day 2 – 32 hours into the heist (Friday, 21st, 7:30pm)**

Louis tightens his fingers around the gun and points it towards the main doors, mask on his face. The sound of the doors opening echoes through the giant, silent hall, and two men and one woman step in. Louis’ eyes widen, because that’s-that’s the Chemist. What is she doing here?

“I’m the doctor.” One man says and lifts his arms up as he’s being searched by Cowell and Nick, both with their masks on. “These are my two assistants form the hospital.”

Louis cocks his head to look at the Chemist, who shakes her head and smirks. The two men are obviously scared because everyone, including Liam, who’s on the table in the middle of the room, has masks on.

The Chemist comes up next to Louis and pretends to be looking at Liam’s wound while the two men are still being searched.

“The other one is with the police.” She mumbles as she takes out a stethoscope from her bag and listens to Liam’s heart. “With the glasses. You know what to do.”

Nick takes the tray with their stuff upstairs so Zayn can put a tiny microphone in the policeman’s glasses.

“What are you doing here.” Louis states and steps back when the doctor and the policeman walk over.

“I’m an assistant at the hospital.” She tells him and takes out a syringe from her bag, which is probably an anesthetic.

Everyone watches silently as they pull two bullets out of Liam’s shoulders and then stitch him up. It last about two hours and by the time they’re done it’s almost 10pm. Liam’s asleep on the table, mask still on his face, when the three of them get back their stuff and the doors open.

Zayn’s calmed down by the time the doors close once again. Everyone is told that they can take off their masks, and Louis never knew he’d enjoy getting a breath of (almost) fresh air as much as he has right now.

Hailee and Zayn go to get sandwiches for everyone so they can eat dinner and finally go to the bathroom and then sleep, because it’s been an exhausting day and everything is starting to slowly take a toll on them. All Louis can do right now, is hope that people won’t snap, because they’ve got eight more days and then they’re out of here.

While the first group of guys is taken to the toilets to brush their teeth, he takes a shower in the main office and then goes downstairs to the factory to see how Gigi’s doing with the printing.

There’s an office there, where the phone lines have been cut and everything that might have been used as a weapon has been removed, so five workers are locked in as they sleep. The sight makes his heart weak, because he hates seeing these people trapped like that, but he tries to remember how Lottie needs surgery and how he’s been running for the past several years for no reason.

Gigi is in another office, right next to the one where the people are sleeping, talking to the guy in charge of the factory. There are a lot of serial numbers written on the windows of the office in lipstick.

“How are we doing?” Louis asks her and she turns around.

“Pretty well. We’re printing around 130 million pounds a day in fifty pound notes.” She tells him and smiles. Louis’ eyes widen.

“So we’re gonna get more than a billion?” he asks, doing the math in his head.

Gigi nods. “More than expected.”

“Aren’t you tired?” Louis asks her then as she watches her looking down at the workers.

“A bit. But Oxygen and I take twelve-hour shifts, because Neon is busy with, you know. cracking through the floor of the vault.”

“Do you want me to take over so you can sleep?” Louis offers, even though he’s sleepy himself.

She gives him a happy smile. “No Hydrogen, it’s fine. Go sleep. I got it here.”

He leaves her alone then and walks back upstairs to take his group to the bathroom and then to the room they’ve slept in last night.

***

**Day 2 – 36 hours into the heist (Friday, 21st, 11:45pm)**

“Don’t try to steal my gun again this time.” Louis tells Harry right before he enters the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Niall gives Harry a look and then Mercury enters the bathroom and asks Louis to come outside for a bit.

As soon as the door closes, one of the guys from last night turns to the rest of them, whispering.

“Listen, we can wait until he falls asleep and then take his gun.” He suggests. “We need to take control of the situation otherwise who knows how long we’ll be in here for.”

Harry shakes his head. “Bad idea.”

“And why is that?” another guy asks, putting his hands on his hips.

“Because they have _guns_ , that’s why. And I’m pretty sure they have earpieces as well, so all he has to do is scream and the others will be in the room in no time.”

“Do you have a crush on this guy or something?” Max asks, butting into the conversation.

“No, I’m just-“

They’re interrupted by the door opening and Louis steps in, but not before the guys all agree that they’re not going to sleep tonight so they could get the gun and threaten Louis.

Obviously, Harry can’t sleep either. He’s not sure how much time has passed since they’ve been in the dark but he can tell for sure that nobody is sleeping, because no one’s snoring.

He pops his head out from the back of the couch to look in Louis’ direction. His gun is in his arms this time (probably because Harry himself has tried to steal it jus the other night) and his head is thrown back against the back of the chair. He looks asleep.

There’s movement on the other side of the room. Tom (the older guy, Harry has learned) motions over to Louis as John (the guy who came up with the idea to steal the gun) watches and nods his head.

Fuck, this won’t end without someone being hurt.

Harry’s heart is beating out of his chest as he gets up from the floor and walks over to Louis.

“What are you doing?” Max hisses and Harry shakes his head as he pushes at Louis’ arm until he’s awake.

“What?” Louis asks, rubbing his eyes.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Harry tells him.

“Can’t you hold it until tomorrow?”

Harry shakes his head. “No.”

Louis groans and presses the inside of his ear. “I need someone to come to room 28.” Then he stands up from the chair and cracks his joints.

The door opens and Oxygen steps in.

“I got it.” she tells Louis, who nods and then ushers Harry out of the room.

It’s not until he’s on the way to the bathroom with a gun to his back that Harry realizes he’ll have to actually force himself to pee if he doesn’t want to tell Louis the actual reason he insisted on getting out of the room.

Harry stares at himself in the mirror when he gets to the bathroom and Louis cocks his head.

“Didn’t you have to pee or something?” Louis asks.

“Yeah I uh…I don’t have to go right now.”

Louis rolls his eyes.

“So what did you do?” Harry tries to prolong this as much as he can.

Louis makes a face. “What?”

“Zayn is here because he’s wanted by the FBI or something, so that’s why he’s got nothing to lose. Everyone involved in the heist is probably in the same situation, so I was just wondering what you did.”

“Do you honestly think I will tell you that?” Louis snorts.

“I mean, I already know your name, right? What do you have to lose? Plus, I’m pretty sure I already know what you did because when I met you in that pub I knew you looked familiar.”

The expression on Louis’ face is everything Harry needs to know, really.

“Look, either you’re going to use the toilet or I’m going to take you back.” Louis says and Harry nods before he walks into one of the cubicles.

He unzips his suit and takes the phone out because he’s discovered that the suits have pockets and it’s been starting to bother him. The screen lights up when he takes it out and his heart starts beating faster.

“I don’t hear you peeing.” Louis says from the other side of the door.

Harry’s heart is threatening to jump out of his chest.

“Give me a minute.” Harry says and hears him sigh.

It’s now or never, so he opens the messaging app because Simon didn’t even bother to password protect his phone. He types his father’s number in and then composes a message.

_This is harry. I found a phone, I’m ok. Don’t text back._

Louis knocks on the door then and Harry hurries to put his phone back in his pocket before he flushes the toilet and comes out of the bathroom.

“I didn’t hear you pee.” Louis says as Harry washes his hands.

“Yeah that’s because I peed on the side so…” Harry tries and Louis doesn’t seem to buy it, but doesn’t say anything anyway.

When Harry turns around from the sink, Louis is watching him with an annoyed expression.

“Can we…I mean, can we stay here for a while? The air is much…cleaner.”

“It’s a bathroom.” Louis states and leans against the sink.

“So is that a yes?” Harry asks and Louis rolls his eyes, shrugging.

Harry walks over to the locked window and slides down against the wall right under it. So the window has a view of a brick wall, which means it’s between two parts of the building.

“Can I open the window?” he asks.

“Obviously not.” comes the answer.

“Why not? It’s literally between two parts of the building. And I’m not planning on jumping out of it and fleeing.”

“Shut up.”

Harry leans his elbows on his knees and places his head in his palms.

“What are everyone’s names again?” Harry asks.

“Do you sometimes need to talk just to hear your own voice or what?”

Harry shrugs. “I’m just trying to make conversation. It’s been two days and I think I’m going to go crazy. So the least we could do is be civil to each other, even though you obviously have the upper hand.”

Louis sighs. “I’m Hydrogen, then there’s Neon, Oxygen, Iron, Zink, Silver. And Mercury.”

“And the woman who was the assistant today is the one who planned all this, right? The one you guys talk to on that landline.”

Louis’ eyes widen in horror. “What?”

“Isn’t she?”

“How did you get that idea?”

Harry shrugs. “She’s the woman you were talking to in that pub.”

“Fuck.” Louis says under his breath and points his gun at him. “I should kill you right now.”

Harry puts his arms up in defense. “Please don’t. I swear, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Yeah, sure.” Louis laughs.

“Even if I would, which I won’t, you all will probably be long gone by then, am I right?”

Louis thinks about it, finger on the trigger. Then he lets his gun down.

“I’m actually glad you are the one supervising us and not Mercury.” Harry says after a few minutes of silence.

“Why’s that? Nevermind, I get it. He has quite the temper.”

“Yeah, I think he wouldn’t hesitate to harm someone as long as…” Harry trails off, frowning.

“What?”

Harry shrugs. “It’s just, by definition, Mercury is a poisonous, liquid metal and it’s compounds are potentially toxic and cause harm to the central nervous system. Which is kind of fitting to your Mercury’s character.”

“How do you know all this?” Louis asks, stepping closer.

“I wanted to study chemistry at Uni at some point and I used to read a lot when I was in school. What are the other names? Oxygen? Colorless gas, used in hospitals to aid patient respiration.”

Louis raises his eyebrows. “Which is exactly what she does. Like sort of a healer. Tell me about Iron.”

“Uh…Iron? Medium-hard metal, magnetic. It’s a strong metal and really…malleable, when it comes in contact with other elements. As in, it’s easy to be pressed into a certain shape without breaking or cracking-“

“I know what the word means.” Louis retorts. “So, you could say it’s the ‘muscle’ of the elements?” Harry nods. “You could say that.”

“Shit.”

“What?”

“Nothing. What about Zink?”

“Main use is to prevent iron rusting.”

“Ha.” Louis says. “How…ironic.”

Harry laughs at that.

“No pun intended.” Louis says, a smile playing at his lips.

“Zink is pretty useful in chemistry actually, especially when it’s combined with other elements. Like…a ‘brain’ of the elements, you could say.”

Louis looks lost in his thoughts, so Harry continues.

“Silver, for example, is a soft, shiny metal. Used for jewelry because it’s also malleable. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m describing Silver, as in, your partner.” Harry says. “So whoever gave you the names kind of thought things through.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Louis mumbles. “Neon?”

“Colorless, unreactive gas. Not much to say about it to be honest, it’s like, used in fluorescent tubes and such. But at a party for example, with fluorescent lights and stuff, it’s like a key element, you know? Very important.” Harry says, trying to figure out what Neon’s role is in all of this.

Silver is most probably the one in the money factory, since Harry hasn’t really seen her around as much, seeing as it’s a metal used for jewelry and shiny stuff.

“Don’t you want to know what Hydrogen symbolizes?” Harry asks, trying to look for information about Hydrogen through his brain.

“Sure.”

Louis standing up makes Harry kind of uncomfortable, plus there’s a gun in his hand, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Hydrogen is an explosive gas and also the lightest element. Very flammable and explosive if ignited in air. Mainly used for um, rocket fuel, but the thing is…” Harry stops.

“What?”

“It’s the most important element because without it, nothing would be able to exist and survive.”

Louis licks his lips. Harry continues.

“So yeah…I’m pretty sure you’re like…the most important piece of the puzzle in ‘her’, whoever she is, eyes.”

Louis swallows. “Well. Yeah, I don’t know. Did you get enough fresh air? We should go back.”

“Wait.” Harry says, but stands up nonetheless. “Where do you guys shower? I’m getting like…stinky. Can I use it?”

“What?” Louis asks, shaking his head. “No way you’re going to use the shower. Who do you think you are?”

Harry lets his head hang and then walks out of the bathroom first.

“Took you long enough.” Oxygen says when they enter the room, pointing the flashlight at them.

“Sorry, had an irritable bowel.” Harry tells her and tries to ignore the angry looks he’s getting from the guys.

“Did you change shifts with Silver already?” Louis asks.

“No, was just about to.”

Harry gets back on the floor behind the couch and Niall gives him a look as Oxygen and Louis continue their conversation.

“What?” he asks.

“What took so long?”

Harry lowers his voice to whisper. “I just don’t want these guys to start a fucking war, you know?”

“Harry.” Niall whispers back. “It’s going to happen eventually, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

“We can warn them.”

“No way you’re going to do that. They’re the enemy after all. The hot enemy, mind you, but still the enemy. We shouldn’t let our attractions get in the way.”

“What attraction? I don’t have an ‘attraction’.” Harry hisses, doing air quotes.

“Oh please. I’ve known you all my life.”

“No you haven’t.”

Niall rolls his eyes. “Either way, it’s fine. I get it. I’d ask her out too, you know. But like, obviously now’s not the time.”

Harry chuckles. “Obviously.”

“Also, I think she fancies me too.”

“How’d you figure?”

“She pointed her gun at me like three times while you’ve been gone.”

“Hey, shut up over there.” Louis says once the door closes behind Oxygen, interrupting their conversation. “Go to sleep now.”

Niall wiggles his eyebrows at Harry, who swats his head and fluffs the pillow before he places his head on it. He won’t sleep anyway, but it’s alright.

***

**Day 3 – 45 hours into the heist (Saturday, 22nd, 8:34am)**

Harry is woken up by a gun pressing into his ribs.

“What a lovely way to wake up.” he mumbles and rubs his eyes to see Louis looking down at him.

“Don’t be a smartarse. Get up.”

“What?”

Harry stands up anyway, really wishing he’d have a coffee and maybe a cigarette. Should he ask Louis for one? He knows he’s been smoking, even in the tiny room they have to sleep in.

His eyes fall on Mercury though, so he refrains himself from saying anything else. He doesn’t like him, and after his conversation with Louis yesterday about the chemical elements, he’s pretty sure that the woman who gave them the names made sure they matched their characters. So Mercury is definitely toxic, that’s for sure.

“We’re going to the bathroom.” Louis informs Mercury.

“Do they really need to go to the bathroom three times a day?” comes his answer.

Harry looks up at the camera they’ve set up in the corner and pretends to be in the Office, because he knows that ‘the Chemist’ is watching.

“What are you looking at?” Mercury asks Harry, stepping closer and pointing the gun at him.

“Stop it.” Louis tells him and gets in front of Harry. “They’re human beings, they need to go to the bathroom more than three times a day.”

Mercury cocks his head and Harry is very aware of everyone in the room watching them. The guys are huddled in the corner of the room, waiting for instruction, and Harry’s sure that they all wish to strangle him because he ruined their master plan of taking over the heist men.

“What is this Hydrogen?” Mercury laughs. “You got yourself a little crush or what?”

Harry’s cheeks burn, so he presses his cold hands against them in the hopes of getting them to cool down.

“Do I get to defend people’s human rights only if I got a crush or what?” Louis asks, getting angry.

“Alright, chill out.” Mercury laughs, stepping back.

Okay, so Mercury does feel like Louis could beat him up. Good to know, Harry thinks.

Mercury eventually barks out at them that they should get moving towards the bathroom before breakfast, so Harry follows Niall out of the room. Louis is leading the line towards the bathrooms and Harry is incredibly aware of the fact that Mercury is a meter behind him with a gun in his hands.

For some reason, Harry never feels threatened when Louis is holding a gun pointed at him, but with Mercury, it’s a whole other story.

He makes a mental note to try and ask Louis to use the shower in the main office again as he brushes his teeth with the single-use toothbrushes they’re given. They take off the upper parts of their suits and wash themselves before they pass the deodorant amongst themselves.

“Take them downstairs.” Mercury tells Louis.

“Yeah, I know what to do.” Louis says.

Just as they’re about to exit the bathroom, Harry’s pocket vibrates.

His entire body freezes and every single fiber of his being is overtaken by a rush of adrenaline mixed with fear.

Then the phone starts ringing, echoing through the bathroom. He smells Mercury behind him, before he’s being turned around to face him. Mercury unzips the pocket and takes out the ringing phone.

Harry already knows it’s his father.

“Well well well.” Mercury laughs. “What do we have here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading :) 
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter and whether I should continue the story in the comments :D If you have any ideas or scenes you'd like me to put in the story, feel free to share :D 
> 
> ☆ Follow me on [Tumblr](theboyfriendstagram.tumblr.com) for more updates about the story, or on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ronniebennett94) ☆


	4. Day 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Liam Payne, 20 - **Iron**. Wanted because he beat up and tortured guys for the mafia. **“The Muscle.”**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**Chapter warnings:** non-descriptive gun violence_

**Day 3 – 46 hours into the heist (Saturday, 22nd, 9:05am)**

“What do we have here?” Nick asks, holding up the phone as he smirks at Harry, who’s currently in a whole other dimension, shitting himself and praying to the Gods above to give him mercy.

Harry’s a dead man. Everyone knows it. Mercury yells out at Oxygen, who’s walking up and down the hallway, to come and get the rest of the guys downstairs, which leaves Harry alone with Louis and him, aka the devil incarnate himself.

“Where did you get this? Did you think you’d get away with it?” Mercury laughs before he throws the phone on the ground and smashes it with his foot.

Should Harry run right now? He’s going to get killed, he knows that.

“This is because of you, you know that, right?” Mercury asks Louis, who’s currently looking at Harry with disappointment on his face.

“How the fuck is this my fault?” Louis asks, nostrils flaring.

“You were the one supervising him for the past three days and you didn’t see him taking the phone?”

Louis shakes his head. “I have no idea when he took the phone, or how he sneaked it out.”

There’s disappointment on Louis’ face and Harry feels like he can’t breathe. Mercury’s expression is terrifying, like he’s about to blow everything up because of this.

“These hostages are never going to respect us and are going to keep trying to pull shit like this unless we teach them a lesson.”

And okay, Harry’s head is spinning right now, because Mercury sounds serious and Louis isn’t saying anything. There’s no way they’re going to shoot him, right? Right????

“So what do you want me to do, Mercury? Kill this kid?”

Mercury nods and Harry’s heart drops into his pants. Oh fuck, he’s serious.

“You’re not serious.” Louis blankly says and looks at Harry. “She clearly said we shouldn’t kill-“

“I don’t give a fuck what she said, to be honest. She’s not in here with us, she doesn’t go through what we go through. She made those rules without knowing what would happen or how things were going to unfold.”

There’s a commotion outside and Mercury looks at the door before he looks back at the two of them.

“Kill him now, or I’ll do it.” he spits before he’s out the door.

Harry watches the door shut behind him and feels like he can’t breathe.

When he turns around to face Louis, there’s a gun pointed at him.

“What are you doing?” he asks, raising his hands up in defense.

“I need to…” Louis trails off, still holding the gun up to Harry’s chest.

“Please don’t shoot me, I promise I won’t try to-“ “Shut up.” Louis groans, running a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner.

“Look, look.” Harry says, trying to calm him down. He has no idea what to do or say, he’s just panicking because Louis is panicking, when he’s the one who’s supposed to know what to do (or not to do) in this situation. “You can shoot me in the leg, okay? So there’s blood.”

“And what will I do…I don’t know man, this is fucked up, fuck.” Louis grunts and chews on his lip.

They hear Mercury’s voice booming through the hallway and Harry wants to scream because he did NOT sign up for this when he agreed to go to the interview for his father’s sake.

“Come on Louis!” he exclaims in the heat of the moment and Louis’ head snaps up. He points the gun at Harry and fires. Harry closes his eyes out of reflex, but the pain doesn’t come.

When he opens them, there’s a bullet in the wall behind him and Louis is heavily breathing.

“Just do it, come on.” Harry urges, because he can hear heavy boots on the floor outside the bathroom and Mercury whistling as he gets closer and closer.

When Louis doesn’t move, Harry grabs the gun from his hands, and the older guy doesn’t even fight it.

“What are you doing.” Louis says in a soft voice as Harry bites down on his wrist and points the gun down at his thigh.

He closes his eyes and presses the trigger.

Pain shoots through his entire body and he can feel a heat wave go all the way from his thigh to his ears. He drops the gun and wobbles a bit, so Louis rushes to catch him before he falls.

He sets Harry down on the floor and there’s blood oozing out of his leg now, covering the floor inch by inch. The door to the bathroom creaks open so Harry lays down on the floor next to the pile of blood and closes his eyes.

He can hear Mercury’s boots as they come closer and eventually stop a few meters away from him.

“It took two shots for you to kill him?” Mercury asks Louis.

“Fuck you, Mercury.” Louis spits. “I’ve never shot someone before.”

“Right, but you’ve used a knife before huh.” Mercury laughs and Louis mumbles something under his breath.

“What am I supposed to do with him?” Louis asks after a few moments of silence.

“Take him in the warehouse and put him inside a box or something.”

Harry grits his teeth and resists the urge to swear like a sailor at Mercury. There’s dead silence as Mercury leaves the bathroom and Harry wonders how some people can be so cruel.

***

**Day 3 – 48 hours into the heist (Saturday, 22nd, 11:30am)**

Louis leaves Harry alone to lie in the bathroom after fifteen minutes of pacing around and trying to figure out what to do. This whole plan has gone to shit now and he’s sure the Chemist will go into full rage mode when she finds out.

“What happened? What were those shots?” Zayn asks as soon as Louis enters the main office to find the first aid kit. Louis knows he can trust Zayn not to tell Mercury that he hasn’t actually killed Harry.

“Mercury made me kill the kid.”

Zayn’s face contorts in shock. “What? Which kid? Styles? You didn’t-“

Louis shakes his head as he slams the cupboard open and looks through it.

“No, I didn’t, but Mercury thinks I did.”

“Fuck, Hydrogen, what the fuck?”

Louis grabs the first aid kit. “I shot him in the leg. Listen, Mercury is losing his mind. I need to get the kid to a place where he won’t find him.”

“There are four vaults-“

“But Neon is digging through one.”

“I can get hack into the system and unlock it from here.” Zayn offers and goes to sit down at the laptop. “You can get him there and then we’ll…we’ll figure something out.”

“I just need to find a way to get him down there without anyone seeing.” Louis says and closes the cupboard after grabbing the smallest first aid kit he could find.

“They’re having lunch downstairs right now. I know a way.” Zayn says and Louis nods, waiting for him to hack the security system.

Harry’s still on the floor when the two of them get there.

“Get up.” Louis tells him and Harry struggles to stand up properly, but fails, falling back onto his arse.

“Shit.” Zayn swears and Louis takes out some gauze bandage from the kit and wraps it around Harry’s thigh as tight as he can to stop the bleeding that has slowed down.

There’s blood on Harry’s hands from where he tried to stop the bleeding and he looks so helpless Louis’ heart hurts. He doesn’t deserve this. None of the hostages deserve this, and now he regrets agreeing to this whole thing.

“Wrap your arms around my neck.” Louis tells him and Harry does so after a moment of hesitation. Louis helps him to stand before he puts one arm around his back and the other behind his knees, and then hoists him up bridal style.

“Jesus, how much do you weigh?” Louis grunts as Zayn opens the door. He guides them down two emergency flights of stairs and then they’re in a dark hallway.

Zayn passes the vault where they can hear sawing noises, and stops at the last vault. He types a code in and then slides a card he pulls out of his pockets through the monitor on the wall.

The vault makes a noise and then the door slightly opens. There are stacks of cash in the corners and Louis places Harry down to lean against one of them.

“I’ll bring him some water. He’s pale as fuck.” Zayn says and leaves them alone.

Louis stares down at Harry before cursing under his breath and running his hands over his face.

“This is a fuckin’ disaster.” He says as he looks at Harry’s bandaged thigh.

“It was either this or me dying.” Harry mumbles.

“How can you be fucking positive right now? Everything’s gone to shit.”

Harry shrugs. “Nineteen year old says he prefers having a bullet in his thigh to actually dying.”

Louis blinks. “What?”

“Sorry, it’s a habit.”

“Talking out loud?”

Harry shakes his head. “No, thinking of headlines when I’m anxious.”

“Does your leg still hurt?”

“Of course it does, I’ve got a bullet inside.” Harry answers and Louis rolls his eyes.

“I don’t know how to take it out.”

“Can’t you ask Oxygen?” Harry asks, pressing his palm against the bandage. It hurts, still feels like a thousand knifes stabbing at it, but he knows that the more he thinks about it the more it hurts. “She said she’s good with…that.”

“I’m not sure if I should tell more people because…I don’t know, Mercury is fucking insane right now.”

“Louis, please.” Harry asks, looking up at him and fuck, Louis never really noticed how green his eyes were? And how pinks his lips look in the almost-blinding light of the vault?

“I’ll talk to her. Don’t know if I can trust her yet.”

They get interrupted by Zayn returning with a bottle of water.

“It’s chaos out there, everyone is freaking out because they heard the shots and think you’re dead.”

“Man, I need to talk to the Chemist.” Louis says as Zayn opens the bottle and hands it to Harry. “I don’t care if Mercury goes ballistic.”

“Can you tell Niall I’m okay?” Harry asks five minutes later when the two of them want to leave. “I know he’ll worry.”

Louis licks his lips from where he’s standing in the door. “Yeah. If I find a way so no one will hear us, sure.”

Then the door closes and Harry stares at it for what seems like an eternity. Then he realizes that Louis doesn’t even know who Niall is.

***

**Day 3 – 52 hours into the heist (Saturday, 22nd, 3:10pm)**

After lunch, Louis has to accompany some guys to the bathroom, and he makes sure to take the blonde Irish guy with him, because he’s sure that’s Niall. The guy seems really distraught (as one would be during a fucking heist) and sad, so he grabs his arm when they’re in the bathroom and pulls him into a corner when everyone else is in the cubicles.

“Look…” he whispers. “I didn’t kill him, okay? He’s fine.”

Niall’s eyes widen. “Really?”

Louis shushes him as a toilet flushes. He nods, and then steps away when one of the other guys comes out of the cubicle. Niall looks relieved as he goes in.

As he waits for everyone to finish washing their hands, Louis thinks about how the whole situation will play out. They’ve got six more days in this shithole, is he supposed to just keep Harry in that vault with the bullet in his leg? He’ll probably go crazy from all the artificial light in there and the air is messed up, it’s too much to handle even for the strongest person on earth.

He knows he has to tell Hailee about it; otherwise Harry’s probably going to bleed out eventually. He just doesn’t know _how_ to tell her. Everyone already thinks he’s a cold-blooded killer, even before he supposedly killed Harry.

He sends Zayn to check on Harry half an hour later, right before Nick enters the main office and slams his gun down on the desk. Louis hates him so much he thinks it’s inhuman.

“You lost your mind.” Louis tells him and doesn’t even give a shit if it’s provoking him.

“Listen Hydrogen, get off your high horse for a second to realize what’s going on. These people are starting to disobey us and if we want to get out alive, we need to earn their respect.”

“Their fear, you mean.”

Nick rolls his eyes and Louis picks up the phone.

“What are you doing?” Nick asks and Louis dials ‘1’ before he presses the phone up to his ear.

“Telling her you’ve lost your last two brain cells.”

Nick takes action then, by grabbing Louis’ wrist and forcing him to let go of the phone.

“Don’t you dare.”

“Do you think she won’t find out?” Louis asks and wriggles himself out his grasp. “Because she will. You just killed our leverage.”

Nick laughs, throwing his head back and leaving Louis dumbfounded. “What?”

“ _You_ just killed our leverage, I didn’t do shit.”

“You fucking-“ Louis starts and lunges at him, ready to punch him right in the face.

“Hey hey hey!” Liam intervenes as soon as he comes to the door, struggling to hold Louis back as much as he can. “Cut it out, for fuck’s sake!”

“You’re gonna go to hell.” Louis spits at Nick, who flips him off and grabs his gun from the table.

“I’ll meet you there then.” He says before he leaves, slamming the door behind him.

“What happened?” Liam asks once he lets go of Louis, whose chest is still rising uncontrollably.

“He’s a dick, that’s what happened. And he’s going to get all of us in here killed as soon as we step foot outside these walls.”

“Calm down.”

Louis sits down on one of the chairs and takes a deep breath, before he thinks about sneaking food down to Harry and getting him more water. He also debates on whether to tell Hailee about the whole thing because he knows that bullet has to come out at some point.

“Yeah, okay. I’m fine.” He says to Liam just so he can get him off his back.

“Okay, well, I’m going to get lunch for everyone and then I’ll come back in case you need anyone else to talk to.”

Louis smiles. The biggest mystery to him right now is how in the world did Liam end up here, because he’s way too nice and has a heart of gold.

***

**Day 3 – 59 hours into the heist (Saturday, 22nd, 10:30pm)**

Harry jolts awake because he’s absolutely sweating his balls off. His hair is clinging to his forehead and he feels so gross he wants to scream. His mouth is dry and the suit is clinging to his entire body. Not to mention the faint smell of blood coming from his thigh.

“Fuck.” He swears and unzips his suit before he arches off the stack of money so he call pull it all the way down to his waist. His white tank top is wet and he could really use a shower right now.

The door to the vault clicks open and he freezes, because the last two times Louis came to check up on him today made him think that maybe Mercury figured out that he wasn’t dead.

It’s still Louis though, so Harry lets out a sigh of relief.

Louis pauses in front of the door when he sees Harry fanning out his tank top by holding it between two fingers.

“What time is it?” Harry asks him and Louis blinks at him before he steps in and slowly closes the door behind him.

“Half past ten, everyone’s gone to sleep by now.”

“Who’s watching Niall?”

Louis makes a face. “Ni-Mercury.”

“Fuck.”

Louis shrugs. “There was no one else to do it, unless you wanted me not to come back until morning.”

“Yeah, okay.” Harry nods and looks down at his thigh for a second. “Have you talked to Oxygen?”

Louis nods. “I’m going to take you up to the main office because it’s my shift to be awake. And she’ll pull out the bullet for you.”

He walks over to Harry, who notices that it’s the first time he’s seen him without a gun.

“Bold of you to come unarmed.” Harry jokes and Louis rolls his eyes before he slings Harry’s arm around his shoulder and helps him up.

“Don’t be a smartarse. Can you stand?”

Harry nods and lets Louis help him up into a standing position.

“Does it hurt?”

Harry shrugs. “A bit. The bleeding has stopped though.”

It takes them ten minutes to get all the way up to the main office because Harry’s still limping a bit and he knows he can’t smell good, but Louis isn’t saying anything about it.

The room is empty, and the TV is on mute in the corner when Harry sits down on the couch, one leg propped onto it and the other on the floor.

Louis leaves him there for a minute and when he comes back, Oxygen is behind him.

“Jesus.” She breathes when she sees Harry’s leg.

“Tell me about it.” Louis mumbles and leans against the table as he watches her kneel down by the couch with her First Aid kit in hand.

“You’re going to have to take off your suit if you want me to take the bullet out.”

Harry obliges by sitting up straight on the couch and pulling the suit down all the way to his ankles. He throws a glance in Louis’ direction, who has his poker face on.

_Harry Styles, son of Her Majesty’s attorney general, is in his briefs and see-through tank top in front of one of the most beautiful heist men the world has ever seen_

Harry shakes his head and stretches his leg back out on the couch before he leans back against it.

“Why are you smiling?” Oxygen asks as she untangles the bandage from around his thigh.

“Thinking of headlines, probably.” Louis says and Harry smiles up at him.

Oxygen shakes her head and slaps a pair of sterilized gloves onto her hands. “Not even going to ask what that means.”

Harry looks down at the wound. The blood has dried now and it looks gross.

“I’m gonna put some Hydrogen peroxide onto the wound, okay? It’s gonna hurt.”

“Ha.” Harry laughs.

“What?”

“Hydrogen peroxide, as in, a combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen.” Harry explains and looks at Louis to see his reaction.

“Very funny.” Louis states, but there’s a smirk playing at his lips.

Harry hisses when the cold liquid touches his bare thigh, and Oxygen hands him a rag to put into his mouth in case he wants to scream.

She takes a pair of tweezers from the kit and looks up at him. “This is going to hurt like a fucking train, just warning you, because I’m not sure how deep the bullet is.”

Harry nods and bites his lip, waiting for it. When she digs the tweezers in, he tries his best not to scream bloody murder.

Five minutes later she manages to get the bullet out and begins to stitch him up.

“Small bullet, thank God.” She tells him once it’s all over and a new bandage is on.

“How about no bullet?” Harry says and pulls his suit back up to his waist.

“The gauze is waterproof, because you need to take a shower.”

Harry sighs in relief. “A shower would be great.”

Oxygen stands up and takes off her gloves. “Hydro, get him showered. I have to go and change shifts with Silver now.”

Louis nods and watches her put the kit back into the cupboard before she grabs her gun and leaves the two of them alone.

“So…where’s the shower?” Harry asks, licking his lips.

“Right in there. Here’s a towel. Don’t get it bloody.”

Harry stands up and toes off his shoes, before he pushes the suit all the way down to his ankles and steps out of it.

“Do you have like, a change of underwear?” Harry asks and grabs the towel Louis hands out to him.

“Yeah. They’re mine though, not sure if they fit.”

“I’m not fat, thanks.” Harry mumbles.

Louis rolls his eyes and walks over to the giant closet in the corner, where he pulls out a small duffle bag with the letter “H” on it. He digs through it and pulls out a brand new pair of briefs, which he hands to Harry.

“Thanks.”

He’s aware that Louis is watching him take his tank top off, and when he looks up, Louis is staring at his tattoos again.

“What?”

Louis shakes his head and hands him a toothbrush. “Nothing, just go shower.”

Okay, so not a good time to ask Louis to show him his tattoos then.

Harry closes the door behind him and looks around in the tiny bathroom. There’s a sink in the corner next to the toilet and the shower is right against the wall opposite to the door. He takes off the rest of his clothes before he gets into the shower, and as soon as the warm water hits his face, he sighs.

He’s never going to underappreciate the luxury of having a shower at home. He uses the brand new shampoo to also wash his hair, and by the time he’s finished also brushing his teeth and wraps a towel around his waist, he feels way better.

When he walks out of the bathroom Louis is sitting on the couch with a pack of gummy bears, gun next to him. Should Harry find this attractive? Probably not.

Louis looks away from the TV when he hears the door to the bathroom closing, and doesn’t take his eyes away from Harry until he’s sitting down next to him, putting his hand into the gummy bears pack.

“Good shower?” Louis asks and Harry nods.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” Louis mumbles and Harry sticks a few gummy bears into his mouth.

“Am I going back down there now?” Harry asks, and he really hopes Louis will say no.

“Uh...not yet if you don’t want to.”

Harry closes his eyes and nods before he digs in for another portion of gummy bears.

“So why do you keep staring at my tattoos?” Harry boldly asks.

Louis turns his head and they’re really close right now, their noses inches from each other, and the room is silent. Maybe Harry shouldn’t have asked that, but what’s done is done.

“You’ve got a birdcage on your…ribcage.”

“It’s a pun.” Harry explains. “As in…it’s a cage and it’s on my ribs so it’s a birdcage.” Harry explains.

“I don’t believe you tattooed it on there just because it’s a pun. I _refuse_ to believe that.”

Louis cocks his head and looks at him, waiting on a response.

“Yeah, uh, you’re right.” Harry says and chews on his bottom lip. “It’s supposed to symbolize freedom and…yeah, freedom. As in, I’m a free bird.”

He waits for Louis to snort or to make a stupid remark, but Louis doesn’t say anything, which is just as bad.

“It’s stupid, I know.” Harry adds.

Louis shakes his head. “No, I don’t think it’s stupid at all.”

“What about your tattoos?”

“My tattoos? How’d you know I’ve-”

“Your neck tattoo is peaking out from under your collar, and I’ve never met someone who has _just_ a neck tattoo.” Harry explains and stretches out his bandaged leg.

“Is this a way for you to get me to take my clothes off?”

Harry blushes. “Uh…no, no. Sorry.”

Louis laughs, shaking his head, before he unzips the top of his suit and pulls his arms out of it.

“Whoa.” Harry breathes when he sees all the tattoos littering his skin.

There’s so much going on, even with Louis’ tank top on, Harry doesn’t even know where to look. There’s a dagger and a snake and-

“Is that a com-“

Louis interrupts him by pressing his finger against his ear and muttering ‘shit’ under his breath, before he stands up.

“What’s going on?” Harry asks.

“Get into the bathroom now, Oxygen just told me Mercury’s on his way here.”

Harry hurries into the bathroom and Louis crowds against him before he shuts the door with a loud thud, locking it behind himself.

“Hydrogen?” Mercury asks from outside.

“What the fuck do you want?” Louis yells.

“What are you doing?”

“Do you need me to describe it to you or what?”

Harry bites his lip. He’s scared and amused at the same time, it’s not okay.

“Aw, are you crying because you killed that kid?”

Harry mouth drops. ‘I’m not a kid’ he mumbles to Louis without sound.

Louis rolls his eyes.

“Fuck off, what do you want?”

“Came in to check on you and get some water.”

“Well, ‘m fine, thanks.”

“Alright then.” Mercury says and Harry’s aware of the fact that he’s standing right behind that door.

They listen until Mercury’s steps fade away.

“Who’s suit is this?”

Harry’s entire body freezes and he looks at Louis. He can see the panic in his eyes.

“It’s Harry’s.” Louis answers. “Had to strip him down before I got rid of him, didn’t I?”

They wait for Nick’s response.

“Okay.” It finally comes. “I’m going to throw it out.” Then there’s a few more steps and the door closes.

Harry lets out a breath he didn’t know he was keeping in.

“Fuck.” Louis says and leans against the door, closing his eyes.

Harry stares at himself in the mirror. His hair is still wet and he looks tired as fuck.

“So are we just going to ignore the fact that you’re in a towel then.” Louis says, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?” Harry looks down at his bare chest. “Ah, yeah.”

“I’m gonna have to find you a new suit. Wait here.”

Harry watches Louis leave the bathroom, soon to return with a paper bag that contains a suit. He takes it from his hands and pulls it out of the bag.

“Yeah, so…are you going to watch me dress up or…” Harry says and Louis purses his lips.

“Do you want me to watch you?” he jokes, but it’s enough to make Harry’s cheeks heat up.

“Uh, if you want.”

“Jesus Christ Harold, I’m-yeah. Just-I’m going to wait for you outside.”

“My name isn’t-“ the door slams shut. “-whatever.”

He pulls Louis’ briefs over his legs and shakes his head when they’re actually a bit too large but short, and then puts the suit on. He doesn’t mention the fact that Louis forgot to give him a tank top.

When he walks out of the bathroom, Louis is waiting by the door with a bag in one hand, gun in the other.

“So we’re back to guns now?” Harry asks, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, now come on.”

Louis checks to see if the coast is clear and then motions for Harry to follow him. Once they’re out of the main office, Louis walks behind Harry.

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that I won’t attack you.” Harry says and Louis shushes him.

Harry hates being back in the vault, because it’s warm and the lights are horrible if he tries to fall asleep.

“Can’t you like, ask Zayn to turn the lights off or something?”

“How will you see then?”

“Flashlight?” Harry suggests and sits down on a stack of money, leaning against the wall.

Louis pulls out a 2 liter bottle of water from the bag he was holding and some packed sandwiches, which he hands to Harry.

“Gum? Are you telling me that my breath smells?” Harry jokes, but Louis looks serious.

“It’s for you until I come get you in the morning so you can brush your teeth.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to keep this from Mercury seven more days?” Harry asks, and then he realizes what he just said.

“What did you say?”

Harry doesn’t answer. Fuck.

“How do you-“

“Iron kind of gave it away yesterday. He said there’s eight more days…I don’t know.”

Louis shakes his head and drops the bag at Harry’s feet.

“Well, I’ll let you sleep now.”

“But I’m not tired.” Harry pouts, even though he’s lying.

“What do you want me to do? Dance for you or some shit?” Louis asks.

Harry smirks. “That would be wonderful.”

“Stop flirting with me.”

Harry’s eyebrows reach his hairline. “You think I’m flirting?” he asks and stands up.

Louis is taken aback by his boldness. “Uh…I sure hope so, otherwise me saying that just now would be really embarrassing.”

Harry shakes his head.

“You didn’t tell me about your tattoos.” Harry points out, trying to change the subject.

“Did I have to?”

Harry nods. “You were starting to.”

“You’re trying to get me to strip.”

“No I’m not.” Harry lies, licking his lips.

It’s only now, that he’s standing close to Louis, that he realizes he’s taller. He can see his eyelashes fan over his cheeks when he blinks.

“Why do you want to know?” Louis asks, looking up at him.

The blue in his eyes is intoxicating, Harry thinks. Yes, he might be tired, and he might be close to fainting as we speak, but Harry  _knows_  that he’s never seen eyes so blue and so sad, empty, at the same time.

“Because I’m sure they’ve got a story.” Harry answers.

Louis stares at him for a second. “Nah, you just want me to strip.”

“That too, maybe. Unless you’re…you’re not gay. Or bi. Or-“

“Shut up.” Louis laughs, trying and failing, mind you, to keep up his tough guy composure.

“Make me.” Harry says without missing a beat.

Louis pulls his head back for a second, blinking. Then he bites down a smirk and reaches a hand out to grab the back of Harry’s neck and bring their mouths close together.

Harry closes his eyes, waiting for their lips to touch.

He opens them when they don’t.

“What?” Louis asks, cocking his head.

His blue eyes are staring right into Harry’s soul now, sadness replaced with mischief, emptiness still there.

“You thought I’d kiss you?”

Harry’s eyes fall down to Louis’ lips. “I was hoping you would.”

“I’m literally keeping you hostage and you want to kiss me? That’s fucked up.” Louis says, but doesn’t do anything to put some distance between them.

“You’ve been nice to me.”

“Under the circumstances.”

Harry nods. “Yeah.”

“Why’d you think I’d kiss you though?”

Louis’ breath smells like cigarettes and mint, it’s fucking…ugh.

“Well, you’re standing pretty close to me right now, literally talking into my mouth.” Harry argues, placing a hand on Louis’ hip that he hopes would go unnoticed.

It’s doesn’t go unnoticed though, because Louis’ eyes drift down there for a second. When he looks up, Harry knows he’s got five more seconds until he’ll kiss him.

“No I’m not.” comes Louis’ weak and way too late retort.

“Yeah you are.” Harry childishly answers, before he smiles and pulls Louis in by the waist.

Their lips collide and Louis’ tongue finds its way into his mouth immediately, sending Harry’s entire body into hyperventilation. Louis’ lips are soft and rough at the same time, working in sync with Harry’s own, like they’ve been meaning to do that for a long time.

Harry cups Louis’ face with his other hand to deepen their kiss and he can feel Louis smiling into it, so he smiles too, which kind of puts a strain on it, but it doesn’t matter.

Louis puts his other arm around Harry’s shoulders and pulls him towards him until he hits the wall with his back. It’s too much, and Harry can’t believe it’s happening but he’s not one to ask questions when there’s a much more important task at hand.

The tension shifts when Louis grabs the curls at Harry’s neck, which makes Harry groan into his mouth.

Louis pulls back then, wiping his mouth and steps away from Harry.

“Shit, we shouldn’t have done this.” Louis mutters more to himself than anything.

“And yet…” Harry says, trying to figure out why the fuck he’s freaking out now.

“I shouldn’t have…I shouldn’t have.” Louis tells him.

“It’s fine, I’m not a child or anything you know.” Harry sarcastically says and crosses his arms as he watches Louis run a hand through his hair.

“I know, it’s not that-“

“And I’m not going to expect any special treatment.”

Louis shakes his head. “It’s not that, fuck. There are rules to this and I already broke like ten of them-“

“Is she watching right now or what?”

“Nevermind. Get some sleep. Fuck, okay. Get some sleep. I’ll come over in the morning.”

Harry watches him make a 360 turn and then shake his head again, before he leaves, letting the vault door slam shut behind himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading :)
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter and whether I should continue the story in the comments :D If you have any ideas or scenes you'd like me to put in the story, feel free to share :D
> 
> ☆ Follow me on [Tumblr](theboyfriendstagram.tumblr.com) for more updates about the story or if you just want to say hi :) ☆

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading :)
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter and whether I should continue the story in the comments :D If you have any ideas or scenes you'd like me to put in the story, feel free to share :D
> 
> p.s. I need a beta, so if any of you would like to edit the chapters before I post them, let me know :)
> 
> ☆ Follow me on [Tumblr](http://theboyfriendstagram.tumblr.com/) for more updates about the story, or on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ronniebenett) ☆


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